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THREE  PROMINENT  EDUCATORS  AND  AUTHORS. 


THE  COLORED  AMERICAN 

FROM 

SLAVERY  TO  HONORABLE  CITIZENSHIP 


BY 

Prof.  J.  W.  GIBSON  (White) 

Member  of  G.  A.  R.;  Author  of  U.  S.  School  History 

AND 

Prof.  W.  H.  CROGMAN,  A.  M.  (Colored) 

Professor  In  ClorK  University,  Atlanta,  Ga.; 
Author  of  "Talks  for  the  Times" 

Special   Features: 

NATIONAL  NEGRO  BUSINESS  LEAGUE  AND 
INTRODUCTION 

BY 

Prof.  BOOKER  T.  WASHINGTON,  A.  M. 

Principal  Tuskegee  Institute 

CLUB  MOVEMENT  AMONG  NEGRO  WOMEN 

BY 

FANNIE  BARRIER  WILLIAMS 

PUBLISHED   BY 

HERTEL,  JENKINS  &  COMPANY 

ATLANTA.  GA. 


AGENTS    WANTED 

1905 


COPYRIGHT.  1902.  BY  J.  L.  NICHOLS  &  Co. 


Sold  only  by  subscription  and  not  to  be  had  in  the  bookstores 
Any  one  desiring  a  copy  should  address  the  publishers. 


This  book,  including  illustrations,  is  protected  by  copyright, 

and  any  infringement  will  be  prosecuted  to  the 

fullest  extent  of  the  law. 


PREFACE. 

Our  apology  for  presenting  to  the  public  a  new  boolc 
is  not  that  there  are  not  sufficient  books  already  written 
on  the  Negro,  but  that  to  our  knowledge  there  has 
been  no  attempt  made  to  put  into  permanent  form  a 
record  of  his  remarkable  progress  under  freedom — a 
progress  not  equaled  in  the  annals  of  history. 

Although  the  " Progress  of  a  Generation"  might,  as 
to  time,  more  accurately  bound  the  limits  of  our  theme, 
we  have  preferred  to  record  as  well  the  struggles  and 
triumphs  of  the  Race  in  the  dark  days  of  bondage,  for 
slavery,  with  all  its  appalling  horrors,  was  neverthe- 
less in  a  sense  educative  to  the  Race. 

We  are  not  ignorant  of  the  fact  that  the  eye.  of  the 
critic  will  discern  imperfections,  but  after  much  and 
labored  research  we  have  followed  the  plan  that,  in  our 
judgment,  would  make  the  volume  an  incentive  to 
greater  progress  in  the  future. 

In  the  chapter  on  Noted  Men  and  Women  we  may 
be  charged  with  gross  omissions,  but  the  modesty  of 
many  men  and  women  worthy  of  mention  has  pre- 
vented a  record  of  noble  lives.  In  other  cases  the 
manuscript  did  not  reach  us  in  time. 

We  have  quoted  largely  from  different  authors,  and 
wherever  possible  have  given  credit,  but  in  some  cases 
even  this  was  not  possible,  as  the  author  was  not  always 
known.  We  are  especially  indebted  to  Dr.  Hubbard, 
of  Meharry  Medical  College,  and  Prof.  Spence,  of  Fisk 
University,  for  valuable  information. 

Our  motive  throughout  has  been  that  of  an  increas 
ing  desire  to  aid  in  the  work  of  elevating  the  Race  foi 
which  many  noble  lives  have  been  given. 

We  shall  feel  well  repaid  for  our  labors,  if,  through 
the  perusal  of  these  pages,  there  shall  be  an  incentive 
to  even  greater  efforts,  during  the  second  generation 
of  freedom.  With  the  sincere  hope  that  our  efforts 
may  aid  in  inducing  the  multitudes  to  catch  the  same 
spirit  of  progress  that  imbues  their  leaders,  we  send 
this  volume  forth. 

THE  AUTHORS. 

9 


INTRODUCTION. 


The  Progress  of  a  Generation  in  the  history  of  the 
Negro  is  the  most  fascinating  study  modern  times  pos- 
sesses. Springing  from  the  darkest  depths  of  slavery 
and  sorrowful  ignorance  to  the  heights  of  manhood  and 
power  almost  at  one  bound,  the  Negro  furnishes  an  un- 
paralleled example  of  possibility.  In  the  pages  follow- 
ing, the  authors  have  performed  a  duty  at  once  difficult 
and  needful — that  of  following  the  rise  of  the  Negro 
through  the  different  stages  of  his  career.  It  is  a  task 
that  merits  respect,  commands  attention,  and  is,  unhap- 
pily, too  seldom  attempted. 

The  task  of  a  biographer  of  a  people  is  too  frequently 
a  thankless  one.  In  sifting  out  the  conflicting  elements 
which  present  themselves  for  his  consideration  he  is 
apt  to  injure  tradition.  In  using  material  which  he 
thinks  best  he  is  likely  to  upset  preconceived  ideas  of 
theorists.  His  work  must  be  the  result  of  careful  think- 
ing and  an  astonishing  amount  of  finesse  and  diplomacy. 

The  historian  of  the  Negro  race  has  all  this  and  more 
too.  He  must,  in  addition  to  the  other  duties  which 
devolve  upon  him  in  his  work,  be  able  to  prophecy  and 
foresee  the  days  to  come.  For  the  progress  of  the 
Negro  is  far  from  completed — it  is  yet  in  its  incipient 
stage — and  the  eyes  of  the  prophet  must  discern 
whither  the  road  leads,  upward  or  downward. 

The  unprecedented  leap  the  Negro  made  when  freed 
from  the  oppressing  withes  of  bondage  is  more  than 
deserving  of  a  high  place  in  history.  It  can  never  be 
chronicled.  The  world  needs  to  know  of  what  mettle 
these  people  are  built.  It  needs  to  understand  the  vast 
possibility  of  a  race,  so  much  despised  and  so  thor- 
oughly able  to  prove  without  blare  and  flourish  of' 
trumpet  its  ability  to  hold  its  own  and  compete,  after 
only  thirty  years  of  life,  with  those  of  centuries  of 
lineage. 

The  dawn  of  new  life  is  again  gleaming  behind  the 

4 


INTRODUCTION.  5 

horizon.  After  the  words  were  spoken  which  pro- 
nounced the  Negro  free,  he  hesitated  a  minute,  then 
sprang  towards  the  highest  place  at  once.  It  was  not 
many  days  before  he  was  heard  from  in  all  positions, 
in ,all  walks  of  life;  he  was  in  high  government  posi- 
tions, his  name  was  on  the  most  exclusive  professional 
roles,  yet  the  common  horde  lingered  in  surprised  help- 
lessness, wondering  what  next.  Such  a  state  of  affairs, 
though  brilliant,  was  without  foundation  and  could 
not  last.  In  building  the  structure  of  his  race-life  the 
Negro  had  begun  at  the  top.  The  cupola  could  not  last 
without  a  foundation ;  the  work  was  shaking  without  a 
firm  support.  Of  late  years  this  is  being  realized,  and 
we  are  turning  our  attention  to  the  foundation  work. 
It  may  be  that  some  are  blind  to  the  crying  needs 
of  an  absolute  and  unwrenchable  foundation  in  the  soil 
of  the  state,  but  those  whose  eyes  are  opened  must 
realize  that  we  can  advance  no  further,  or  do  no  better 
work,  until  we  have  paused  and  implanted  ourselves 
firmly.  The  progress  made  thus  far  has  been  magnifi- 
cent, but  like  the  house  built  upon  sands.  Ere  we 
add  another  gable  or  tower  to  its  structure  we  must 
insure  it  against  the  lash  of  the  storm's  fury  by  placing 
a  solid  rock  beneath  its  surface. 

This  is  where  the  progress  of  the  Negro  leads  us 
today — to  pause  in  the  brilliant  meteoric  advance  and 
stride  forward  henceforth  as  a  solid  phalanx  of  earnest, 
industrious  toilers,  for^a  merited  place  in  the  world's 
array  of  nations.  By*  the  work-shop,  the  well-tilled 
farm,  the  scientifically  conducted  dairy,  the  mechanic's 
well-done  work,  our  advance  is  now  being  noted. 
From  gaining  the  wondering  curiosity  of  the  world  for 
a  chosen,  brilliant  few,  we  are  compelling  its  respect 
and  admiration  for  ourselves  as  a  whole,  as  a  people 
upon  whom  the  stigma  of  idle  dreaming  can  no  longer 
be  laid. 

Thus,  while  the  authors  record  in  these  pages  the 
progress  of  the  Negro  within  the  past  generation,  let 
us  hope  that  when  another  quarter  century  has  passed 
away  the  race's  biographer  may  have  a  still  more 
oromisinjar  story  to  tell.  Let  us  hope  that  it  will  be  a 


6 


INTRODUCTION. 


story  of  a  people  taking  part  in  the  interests  of  a 
nation — not  in  isolated  cases,  but  as  an  integral  part  of 
a  magnificent  whole.  Let  us  hope  that  there  will  be 
manufacturers,  as  well  as  senators;  good  and  success- 
ful business  men,  as  well  as  politicians;  reputable 
artisans,  as  well  as  literateurs;  millionaires,  as  well 
as  laborers.  Let  us  hope  that  the  wave  of  industrial 
feeling  now  extending  over  the  country  may  find  its 
culmination  in  the  unmistakable  and  solid  foundation 
of  a  magnificent  people,  and  crystallize  a  race  into 
conformation  with  the  high  standard  reached  by  man 
in  the  present  age. 

BOOKER  T.  WASHINGTON, 
Tuskegee  Normal  and  Industrial  Institute. 
TUSKEGEE,  ALA.,  January,  4,  1902. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTEK.  PAf»F. 

I.    HISTORY  OF  THE  RACE .,     13-32 

II.    SLAVERY 33-6o 

III.  THE  NEGRO  IN  THE  REVOLUTION 61-72 

IV.  ANTI-SLAVERY  AGITATION 73-88 

V.    FUGITIVE  SLAVE  LAWS— UNDERGROUND  RAIL- 
ROAD SYSTEM— SLAVE  POPULATION 89-106 

VI.    THE  NEGRO  IN  THE  CIVIL  WAR 107-130 

VII.  THE  NEGRO  IN  THE  SPANISH-AMERICAN  WAR, 131-146 

VIII.    MORAL  AND  SOCIAL  ADVANCEMENT 147-196 

IX.    CLUB  MOVEMENT  AMONG  NEGRO  WOMEN 197-232 

X.    NATIONAL  NEGRO  BUSINESS  LEAGUE 233-254 

XI.    PROGRESS  IN  INDUSTRIES 255-296 

XII.  V/FINANCIAL  GROWTH .'297-304 

> 

XIII.  MORTALITY 305-322 

XIV.  EDUCATIONAL  IMPROVEMENT— THE  PRESS 323-454 

XV.y  RELIGION  AND  THE  NEGRO 455-484 

7 


8  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER.  PAGE. 

XVI.    NOTED  PERSONAGES  OP  THE  AFRO-AMERICAN 

RACE 485-632 

XVII.    PLANTATION  MELODIES —  INCIDENTS  — PLEAS- 
ANTRIES   633-654 

XVIII.    PRESENT  STANDING  AND  OUTLOOK 655-672 

XIX.    STATISTICS  OF  THE  RACE 673-718 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


Page. 

Abbott,  Miss  Helena 208 

A  Bold  Strike  for  Freedom,  08 

Abraham  Lincoln . .  106 

Adams,  J.  W 256 

Alexander,  Rev.  W.  G. . .    .  546 
Allen  University,  Columbia, 

S.C 256 

A.  M.E.  Big  Bethel  Church. 

Atlanta,  Ga 461 

A. M.E.Sunday  School  Union  473 

An  Ex-Slave 35  36  38 

Arkansas    Baptist    College. 

Little  Rock,  Ark 436 

Arnett,  Bishop  B.  \V 540 

"A  Stitch  in  Time  ' 650 

Atlanta  Baptist  Seminary.. .  408 
A  Valiant  Negro  Soldier  ...  141 
Ballard  Drug  Store,  Lexing- 
ton, Ky 241 

Banks,  Dr.  J.  B 597 

Barrier,  Miss  Ella  D 225 

Biddle    University,  Char- 
lotte, N.  C 445 

Black,  Henry 192 

Blocker,  Miss  Sarah  A 209 

Bowen,  Rev.  J.  W.  E 590 

Boyd    Building,    Nashville, 

Tenn 449 

Boyd,  Dr.  R.  F 586 

Brown,  John 88 

Bruce,  Mrs.  Josephine 224 

Cadets,  Knoxville   College, 

Knoxville,  Tenn 435 

Campbell,  Mrs.  Haydee.    .  225 
Captured  Slaves 4* 


Page. 
Carney,  Sergeant  Wm.  H..  .119 

Carter,  Rev.  E.  R 549 

Carver,  Prof.  Geo.  W 599 

Charity  Still 101 

Cheatham.  H.  P 256 

Children    of    Distinguished 

Negroes 162 

Clark    University,   Atlanta, 

Ga 410 

Class  in  Chemistry,  Atlanta 

Baptist  Seminary 330 

Class    in    Mech.    Drawing, 
Rust  Univ. .Holly  Springs, 

Miss 448 

Cooper,  E.  E 612 

Cornell,  A.  C 256 

Coshburn,  Mrs.  W.  M 106 

Coshburn,  Walter  M 193 

Councill,  Prof.  W.  H 284 

Custalo,  Wm 256 

Darden,  J.  H 256 

Davenport,  Mrs.  M.  L 196 

Davis,  Mrs.  L.A 224 

Davis,  Miss  Mattie  B 224 

Desperate  Conflict  in  a  Barn,  94 

Dogan,  M.W 193 

Douglass,  Frederick 486 

Dunbar,  Paul  Lawrence. . .  .601 

Earnest,  Lewis 192 

Emma  Brick  Works,  Emma, 

N.  C 289 

"Equal  to  the  Emergency".. 643 

Fall  of  Attucks 60 

Ferguson's  Delivery  Wag- 
ons, Jacksonville,  Fla 304 


10 


LIST   OF    ILLUSTRATIONS. 


Page. 
Fierce     Encounter     with 

Bloodhounds 123 

First  Congregat'nal  Church, 

Atlanta,  Ga 47° 

Fisk  Jubilee  Singers 397 

Fisk  University,  Nashville, 

Tenn 37& 

Francis,  Mrs.  John  R 208 

Franklin,  G.  W.,  Undertak- 
er, Chattanooga,  Tenn . . .  335 
Frontispiece. 

Furness,  Rev.  Wm.  H 321 

Gammon  Theological  Sem- 
inary— Class 386 

Garnett,  Miss  Belle 209 

Garrett,  Thomas 91 

Garrison,  William  Lloyd —  75 
General  Ed.  Johnson   as  a 

Prisoner 127 

General  Grant  and  Colored 

Guard 111 

Gibbs,  Miss  Hattie 225 

Girls'  Industrial  School, 

Clark  University 322 

Gordon,  Nora  A 406 

Grandchildren  of  Slaves...  56 
Grey,  F.  H.,  Residence,  Lex- 
ington, Ky.. 334 

Hampton  Institute,  Virginia 

Hall 39o 

Hansberry,  E 193 

Harper,  Mrs.  F.  E.  W 21 

Holmes,  Prof.  Wm.  E 518 

Holsey,  Bishop  L.  H 532 

Hort,  Mrs.  Emma  T 209 

Industrial  School,  Gladden's, 

Greenville,  S.  C 273 

James  &  Allen  Drug  Co., 

Chattanooga,  Tenn 240 

Jenkins,  Hon.  S.  J 580 


Pate. 

Jones,  Miss  Anna 196 

Kelly,  James..... *93 

King,  Horace,  and  His  Sons,  257 
Knoxville    College,    Knox- 

ville,  Tenn 431 

Ladies'  and  Gents'  Furnish- 
ing, Montgomery,  Ala. . . .  463 
Langston,  Hon.  John  M . . . .  577 

Left  by  Slave  Traders 58 

Lehman,  M.  J 192 

Little     Chicago     Millinery, 

Helena,  Ark 462 

Love,  Miss  Lulu 208 

Lucas,  Rev.  W.  W 168 

Lyons,  Hon.  Judson  W 631 

Maceo,  General  Antonio.. . .  133 
Magnolia  Drug  Store,  Deca- 

tur,  Ala 32 1 

Martin  Luther  Graves  Hall, 
Union  University,  Rich- 
mond, Va 338 

Mayor     and      Councilmen, 

Hobson  City,  Ala 288 

Meharry  Medical  College. .  427 
Morris  Brown  College,  At- 
lanta, Ga 433 

Morris,  Rev.  E.  C 476 

Murray,  Prof.  J.  L 344 

Myers,  Rev.  Cyrus 618 

Napier,  Hon.  J.  C 566 

Negro  Educators,  Group  of.  186 
Negro  Farmer's   One-room 

Cabin 261 

"Negroes   (The)  Saved  the 

Fight" , 136 

Norman,  Rev.  M.  W.  D 477 

On  Picket  Duty 115 

Parker  Model  House 271 

Pettiford,  W.  R 193 

Phillips,  Wendell 78 


LIST   OF   ILLUSTRATIONS. 


11 


Page. 

Picking  Cotton .269 

Platt,  Miss  Ida 574 

Powell,  Bartow  F 290 

Proctor,  Rev.  H.  H 541 

Residence  of  Albert  Nash.  .275 
Residence  of  John  T.  Schell .  279 
Resurrection  of  Henry  Box 

Brown 99 

Roanoke  Institute 456 

Robinson,  Mrs.  M.  A 209 

Rucker,  Hon.  H.  A 285 

Ruffin,  Mrs.  Josephine  St.  P.  224 
Rust  University,  Holly 

Springs,  Miss.  .* 636 

Samuel  Huston  College,  Aus- 
tin, Texas 438 

Sanders,  Rev.D.J. 366 

Saw-Mill  Men  of  Tusk  egee. 266 

Scarborough,  Prof.  W 511 

Scripture  Reminiscences. .  .641 

Scruggs,  Dr.  B.  E 593 

Settle,  Hon.  J.  T 560 

Singleton,  Huston 192 

Slave    Traders    and   Their 

Captives. 32 

Smalls,  Robert. 192 

Smith,  Amanda 483 

Smith,  Albretta  Moore 209 

Smith,  Mrs.  C.  S 224 

Southern     Mercantile    Co., 

Pine  Bluff,  Ark 305 

Spelman     Seminary,     New 

Building  of 400 

Spelman     Seminary,     Stu- 
dents of. 402 


Page. 

Still,  William 96 

Stowe,  Harriet  Beecher 83 

Students,  Mrs.  Gladden's, 

Greenville,  S.  C 272 

Sumner,  Charles — 81 

Sykes,  Undertaker,  Decatur, 

Ala..... 320 

Tanner,  Bishop  B.  T 538 

Terrell,  Mrs.  Mary  C '208 

Thankful  Baptist  Church, 

Augusta,  Ga 465 

Thomas,  Lillian  J.  B 196 

Trained  Nurses,  Spelman 

Seminary 356 

Turner,  Bishop  H.  M 537 

Union  University,  Lecture 

Hall. 430 

University  Hall,  Leland 

University 348 

Walker,  Rev.  C.  T 625 

Washington,  Booker  T 232 

Washington,  Mrs.  Margaret .  2 1 

West,  Rev.  W.B 551 

Wheeler.L.G 571 

Williams,  Miss  Emma  Rose . 225 

Williams,  Mrs.  D.  H 106 

Williams,  Mrs.  Fannie  Bar- 
rier  197 

Williams,  Mrs.  Sylvanie  F..2o8 

Williams,  S.  L 573 

Wilson,  Henry 86 

Wright,  R.  R 423 

Yates,  Mrs.  J.  S 225 

Young,  Major  Charles 145 


WE  ARE  RISING. 

BY  REV.  GEORGE  C.  ROWE. 

Among  the  sayings  of  our  race, 

Suggestive  and  surpiising, 
That  fill  a  most  exalted  place, 

Is,  "Tell  them  we  are  rising!" 

The  question  asked  for  right  and  truth. 
What  to  the  North  your  greeting? 

The  answer  from  a  Negro  youth— 
"Tell  them  we  are  rising!" 

Within  Atlanta's  classic  halls, 

This  youth,  self-sacrificing, 
Wrote  high  his  name  upon  her  wall*, 

His  motto:  "We  are  rising!" 

Out  in  the  world  he  makes  his  mark, 

Danger  and  fear  despising, 
E'er  soaring  upward  like  the  lark, 

My  brethren:  "We  are  rising!" 

He  meets  the  foe  with  voice  and  pen, 

With  eloquence  surprising! 
Give  us  a  chance,  for  we  are  men! 

Most  surely  we  are  rising! 

Rising  to  take  our  place  beside 

The  noble,  the  aspiring; 
With  energy  and  conscious  pride, 

To  the  best  things,  we're  rising! 

Within  the  class-room  is  his  place, 

Greek,  Latin,  criticising, 
To  raise  the  youthful  of  his  race, 

And  show  the  world  we're  rising! 

Go  forth,  my.  friend,  upon  your  way, 

Each  obstacle  despising, 
Prove  by  your  efforts  every  day 

To  all  that  we  are  arising! 

In  farming,  trade  and  literature, 

A  people  enterprising! 
Our  churches,  schools,  and  home  life  pure, 

Tell  to  the  world  we're  rising! 

NOTE.— About  a  score  of  years  since,  Gen.  O.  O.  Howard,  then  con- 
nected with  the  Freedman's  Bureau,  on  visiting  one  of  the  colored  schools 
In  Georgia,  asked  the  children:  "What  message  shall  I  take  from  you  to  the 
people  of  the  North?"  An  intelligent  boy  answered  promptly:  "Tell  them 
we  are  rising!"  The  boy  was  Richard  Wright,  of  Augusta,  Ga..  who  has 
since  graduated  from  Atlanta  University,  ably  filled  the  editorial  cha*>, 
and  is  now  President  of  the  State  Normal  School,  of  College,  Georgia. 

12 


CHAPTER  I. 

'# 

HISTORV    OF    THE    RACE. 

Unity  of  the  Race. — Attempts  have  been  made  in 
the  past  to  prove  that  the  Negro  is  not  a  human  being. 
Jn  this  age  of  the  world  such  a  preposterous  idea  does 
not  receive  countenance.  The  remarkable  progress  of 
the  Negro -and  the  rapid  disappearing  of  race  malice 
and  prejudice,  have  made  this  theory  so  absurd  that 
to-day  no  one  can  be  found  to  advocate  it.  It  is,  how- 
ever, to  be  noted  that  as  late  as  1868  a  minister  of  the 
South  advocated  this  theory.  Arguing  from  this  stand- 
point he  says,  "Half  an  eye  tells  us  the  fate  of  the 
Negro  on  this  continent  is  fixed,  his  doom  is  irrevocably 
sealed,  he  is  out  of  his  natural  condition  to  which  he 
aspires.  If  he  is  separated  from  man  he  sinks  speedily 
to  savage  cannibalism.  Men  cannot  refute  the  fixed 
decree  of  Omnipotence ;  nothing  but  the  power  of  God 
can  save  the  Negro  from  extinction.  Four  millions  of 
blacks  are  doomed  to  extinction.  The  history  of  the 
Negro  proves -that  he  does  not,  never  did  possess,  a  self- 
directing,  independent  mind.  The  white  man  regards 
him  as  a  natural,  lawful  slave,  the  Negro  admits  the 
fact  and  instinctively  seeks  the  condition  of  slavery  to 
man. ' ' 

Of  One  Blood. — Why  should  we  here  refer  to  this 
theory  so  absurd  and  contradictory  to  all  history? 
Not  that  we  place  any  confidence  in  any  of  the  argu- 
ments, nor  that  we  will  refute  the  arguments,  they 
need  no  refutation ;  but  that  the  young  man  of  to-day, 
who  is  an  American  citizen,  may  know  something  of 
the  tendency  of  the  times  when  slavery  existed. 

13 


14  PROGRESS   OF    A    RACE. 

To-day  the  universal  belief  is  that  God  "Created  of 
one  blood  all  nations  of  man  to  dwell  on  the  face  of 
the  Dearth."  The  unity  of  the  race  is  demonstrated 
with  emphasis  in  the  possible  and  actual  assimilation  of 
all  the  races  in  the  one  man,  and  is  distinctly  shown  in 
the  personalities  and  careers  of  men  like  Benjamin 
Banneker,  Frederick  Douglass,  and  Alexander  Dumas. 

No  Inferior  Races. — God  did  not  create  an  inferior 
race ;  there  are  races  with  inferior  conditions,  and  these 
may  be  black  or  white,  but,  says  Dr.  Blyden,  "There 
is  no  absolute  or  essential  superiority  on  the  one  side, 
nor  absolute  or  essential  inferiority  on  the  other. 
Man  is  a  unity  in  the  plan  of  salvation.  No  man  is  too 
inferior  to  be  saved.  In  all  the  wondrous  work  of 
creation  the  making  of  man  is  God's  crowning  act,  and 
whoever  has  His  image  has  infallible  credentials  of  his 
high  origin  and  sonship.  Man  is  our  universal  repre- 
sentative head  and  from  him  all  peoples  sprung.  God 
never  made  a  superior  race  nor  an  inferior  one ;  and 
there  is  nothing  in  the  heavens  above,  nor  in  the  earth 
beneath,  that  can  substantiate  any  such  doctrine, 
"For  God  hath  made  of  one  blood  all  nations  of  men 
to  dwell  upon  the  face  of  the  earth. ' ' 

The  Curse  Theory .  — Failing  to  establish  the  theory 
that  the  Negro  is  not  a  human  being,  we  find  an  attempt 
on  the  part  of  those  who  would  have  held  the  Negro  in 
perpetual  slavery  to  show  that  he  belongs  to  an  inferior 
race.  That  against  him  an  irrevocable  curse  has  been 
pronounced.  But  the  remarkable  advancement  of  the 
race  in  all  lines  of  activity  has  dispelled  even  the 
doubts  of  those  who  "hoped  against  hope"  that  this 
might  be  the  case,  and  has  scattered  the  mists  of 
unbelief  that  rose  above  the  horizon  of  a  few  of  the 
Anglo-Saxon  race. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  RACE.  15 

Base  of  Arguments. — Such  arguments  are  based 
upon  passages  of  the  scripture  in  which  Noah  cursed 
Canaan  in  these  words:  " Cursed  be  Canaan,  a  ser- 
vant of  servants  shall  he  be  unto  his  brethren.  Blessed 
be  the  Lord  God  of  Shem,  and  Canaan  shall  be  his 
servant.  God  shall  enlarge  Japheth,  and  he  shall  dwell 
in  the  tents  of  Shem  and  Canaan  shall  be  his  servant. " 
If  this  were  a  prophecy  then  the  argument  might  have 
some  weight,  but  it  is  considered  a  prophecy  only  by  a 
very  few  writers,  and  these  are  those  who  would  sub- 
stantiate preconceived  opinions  thereby.  The  best 
evidence  of  a  prophecy  is  its  fulfillment.  This  state- 
ment was  never  fulfilled  either  in  the  case  of  Canaan, 
whose  descendants  have  often  conquered  and  been 
among  the  powerful  nations  of  olden  times,  nor  of 
Shem  and  Japheth,  whose  descendants  were  frequently 
enslaved.  The  Hebrews  were  in  bondage  in  Egypt 
for  centuries,  they  were  the  descendants  of  Shem; 
Egypt  was  peopled  by  the  Children  of  Ham. 

The  Proper  Interpretation. — We  have  neither  incli- 
nation nor  time  to  spend  on  extended  argument  against 
this  theory  so  contradictory  to  all  facts  revealed  by 
the  light  of  true  history  and  now  no  longer  a  question 
of  debate,  and  yet  a  statement  is  necessary  for  the 
information  of  the  youth  who  knows  nothing  of  slavery, 
and  the  arguments  and  the  attempts  to  hold  in  per- 
petual bondage  a  race  destined  to  play  an  important 
part  in  the  civilization  and  Christianization  of  the 
world.  Noah  was  once  a  preacher  of  righteousness, 
but  he  afterward  became  drunk  on  the  wine  that  he 
made.  The  exposure  to  which  he  was  subjected  by  his 
drunken  condition  caused  him  in  his  irritable  and  self- 
defensive  mood  to  utter  these  words,  which  cannot  in 
any  sense  be  prophetic.  The  best  argument  against 


16  PROGRESS   OF  A   RACE. 

this  theory  is  the  remarkable  progress  of  the  race  and 
the  moral  and  intellectual  condition  of  the  best  of  the 
race  in  these  closing  years  of  the  nineteenth  century. 

Josephus  says:  "The  children  of  Ham  possessed 
the  land  from  Syria  to  Amanus,  and  the  mountains  of 
Libanus,  seizing  upon  all  the  maritime  ports  and  keep- 
ing them  as  their  own.  Of  the  four  sons  of  Ham,  time 
has  not  at  all  hurt  the  name  of  Cush,  for  the  Ethiopians 
over  whom  he  reigned  are  even  at  this  day,  both  by 
themselves  and  by  all  men  in  Asia,  called  Cushites. " 

Herodotus. — Herodotus  states  that  Cambyses  at- 
tempted to  conquer  Ethiopia  but  failed.  He  succeeded 
in  conquering  Egypt,  but  he  found  the  Ethiopian  equal 
to  the  Egyptian  in  refinement  and  intelligence  and 
superior  in  military  skill.  Cambyses  attempted,  by 
means  of  spies  and  by  means  of  various  designs,  to 
entrap  and  enslave  the  Ethiopian,  but  was  forced  to 
return  to  Egypt  with  but  a  remnant  of  his  army. 

The  Case  Stated. — Rev.  Norman  Wood  puts  it  thus : 
"Whereas,  Noah  got  drunk  and  cursed  Canaan,  an 
innocent  party;  and  whereas,  this  curse  was  never 
fulfilled;  therefore,  all  to  whom  these  presents  may 
come,  greeting:  Pagan,  infidel,  or  pirate,  are  hereby 
empowered  to  kidnap  and  to  enslave  all  the  sable 
Africans  who  are  descendants  from  Cush.  We  are  here 
reminded  of  the  statement  of  Liliuokalani,  the  recent 
dethroned  queen  of  Hawaii,  that  the  best  blood  of  the 
English  flowed  in  her  veins,  because  her  grandfather 
devoured  Captain  Cook." 

The  Color  Theory. — Another  argument  in  support 
of  the  curse  of  Noah  is  the  color  of  the  African.  This 
argument  also  fails  utterly  when  we  take  into  account 
the  climatic  influence.  Climate,  and  climate  alone,  is 
the  sole  cause.  The  predominant  color  of  the  inhabit- 


HISTORY  OF  THE   RACE.  17 

ants  of  the  tropical  regions  of  Asia  and  Africa  is  black, 
while  the  whites  are  found  in  the  temperate  and  cold 
regions.  We  see  and  admit  the  change  which  a  few 
years  produce  in  the  complexion  of  a  Caucasian  going 
from  our  northern  latitude  into  the  tropics.  If  a  few 
years  make  such  great  changes  why  shall  we  hesitate 
to  recognize  the  changes  of  centuries  and  ages? 

Plants  and  Animals.— There  is  perhaps  no  better 
evidence  of  the  influence  of  climate  upon  man  than  to 
witness  its  effects  upon  plants  and  animals.  The  flowers 
of  the  north  are  almost  invariably  white,  while  the 
arctic  rabbit  is  spotless  white,  and  the  fox  and  polar 
bear  are  either  white  or  pale  yellow.  The  lack  of  color 
in  the  northern  regions  of  animals  which  possess  color 
in  more  temperate  regions  can  be  attributed  only  to 
change  of  climate.  The  common  bear  is  differently 
colored  in  different  regions.  The  dog  loses  its  coat  in 
Africa,  and  has  a  smooth  skin. 

Gradations  of  Color. — Let  us  survey  the  gradations 
of  color  on  the  continent  of  Africa  itself.  The  inhabit- 
ants of  the  north  are  whitest;  and,  as  we  advance 
southwards  towards  the  line,  we  find  in  those  countries 
in  which  the  sun's  rays  fall  more  perpendicularly,  the 
complexion  gradually  assumes  a  darker  shade.  And 
the  same  men  whose  color  has  been  rendered  black  by 
the  powerful  influence  of  the  sun,  if  they  remove  to 
the  north  t  gradually  become  white  (I  mean  their  pos- 
terity), and  eventually  lose  their  dark  color. 

Caucasians. — The  Portuguese,  who  planted  them- 
selves on  the  coast  of  Africa  a  few  centuries  ago,  have 
been  succeeded  by  descendants  blacker  than  many 
Africans.  On  the  coast  of  Malabar  there  are  two 
colonies  of  Jews,  the  old  colony  and  the  new,  separated 

2  Progress. 


18  PROGRESS   OF  A   RACE. 

by  color  and  known  as  the  ' 'black  Jews"  and  the 
4 'white  Jews." 

The  old  colony  are  the  black  Jews,  and  have  been 
longer  subjected  to  the  influence  of  the  climate.  The 
hair  of  the  black  Jews  is  curly,  showing  a  resemblance 
to  the  Negro.  The  white  Jews  are  as  dark  as  the 
Gypsies,  and  each  generation  is  growing  darker. 

Dr.  Livingstone  say:  "I  was  struck  with  the 
appearance  of  the  people  in  Londa  and  the  neighbor- 
hood; they  seemed  more  slender  in  form  and  their 
color  a  lighter  olive  than  any  we  had  hitherto  met. ' ' 

Lower  down  the  Zambesi,  the  same  writer  says: 
"Most  of  the  men  are  muscular,  and  have  large, 
ploughman  hands.  Their  color  is  the  same  admixture, 
from  very  dark  to  light  olive,  that  we  saw  in  Londa. ' ' 

Equator  to  Polar  Circles. — Under  the  equator  we 
have  the  deep  black  of  the  Negro,  then  the  copper  or 
olive  of  the  Moors  of  northern  Africa ;  then  the  Span- 
iards and  Italian,  swarthy  compared  with  other  Euro- 
peans ;  the  French,  still  darker  than  the  English,  while 
the  fair  and  florid  complexion  of  England  and  Germany 
passes  more  northerly  into  the  bleached  Scandinavian 
white. 

From  Inland  to  Coast. — As  we  go  westward  we  ob- 
serve the  light  color  predominating  over  the  dark ;  and 
then,  again,  when  we  come  within  the  influence  of  the 
dampness  from  the  sea  air,  we  find  the  shade  deepened 
into  the  general  blackness  of  the  coast  population." 

If  these  opinions,  given  by  the  best  authorities,  mean 
anything,  and  if  we  shall  credit  them  as  having  any 
value,  then  the  color  line  can  be  drawn  only  where 
there  is  deep-seated  prejudice. 

Black,  a  Mark  of  Reproach. — Prof.  Johnson,  in  his 
school  history,  justly  says:  "Black  is  no  mark  of  re- 


HISTORY   OF  THE   RACE.  10 

proach  to  people  who  do  not  worship  white.  The  West 
Indians  in  the  interior  represent  the  devil  as  white. 
The  American  Indians  make  fun  of  the  'pale  face'  and 
so  does  the  native  African.  People  in  this  country  have 
been  educated  to  believe  in  white  because  all  that  is 
good  has  been  ascribed  to  the  white  race,  both  in  pic- 
tures and  words.  God,  the  angels  and  all  the  prophets 
are  pictured  white,  and  the  devil  is  represented  as 
black." 

Ideals  of  Negro. — The  ideals  of  the  Negro  are  the 
ideals  of  the  white  man.  The  two  races  are  both  edu- 
cated to  one  standard,  that  is,  the  white  man's 
standard.  While  the  white  man  would  have  the  Negro 
adopt  his  standard,  at  the  same  time  there  are  those 
who  would  repel  him ;  somewhat  like  putting  on  steam 
and  throttling  the  valve.  True  manhood  knows  no 
color.  While  the  ideals  are  the  same,  the  standards 
the  same,  let  all,  black  and  white,  aim  to  attain  to  a 
virtuous  manhood  that  would  impress  itself  upon 
mankind  and  make  men  more  and  more  to  see  the 
ideals  shine  out  in  the  lives  of  all  true  leaders. 

God  Knows  Best. — George  Williams  says:  "It  is 
safe  to  say  that  when  God  dispersed  the  sons  of  Noah 
he  fixed  the  'bounds  of  their  habitation,'  and  that 
from  the  earth  and  sky  the  various  races  have  secured 
their  civilization.  He  sent  the  different  nations  into 
separate  parts  of  the  earth.  He  gave  to  each  its  racial 
peculiarities  and  adaptability  for  the  climate  into  which 
it  went.  He  gave  color,  language,  and  civilization; 
and,  when  by  wisdom  we  fail  to  interpret  his 
inscrutable  ways,  it  is  pleasant  to  know  that  'he  work- 
eth  all  things  after  the  counsel  of  his  own  mind. '  " 

Antiquity. — It  is  difficult  to  find  a  writer  on  ethnol- 
ogy or  Egyptology  who  doubts  the  antiquity  of  the 


20  PROGRESS   OF   A   RACE. 

Negroes  as  a  distinct  people  from  the  dawn  of  history 
down  to  the  present  time.  They  are  known  as  dis- 
tinctly as  any  of  the  other  families  of  men.  Negroes 
are  represented  in  Egyptian  paintings.  They  formed 
the  strength  of  the  army  of  the  King  of  Egypt.  They 
came  against  the  King  of  Rehoboam  as  well  as  the 
armies  of  Sesostris  and  Xerxes. 

John  P.  Jefferis,  who  is  not  friendly  to  the  Negre, 
in  his  criticism  nevertheless  makes  this  statement: 
1  *  Every  rational  mind  must  readily  conclude  that  the 
African  race  has  been  in  existence  as  a  distinct  people 
over  four  thousand  two  hundred  years,  and  how 
long  before  that  period  is  a  matter  of  conjecture  only 
there  being  no  reliable  data  on  which  to  predict  a 
reliable  opinion." 

Further  Evidence. — Further  evidence  in  favor  of 
the  antiquity  of  the  Negro  is  found  in  Japan  and  East- 
ern Asia.  In  these  large,  magnificent  temples,  hoary 
with  age,  are  found  idols  that  are  exact  representations 
of  woolly-headed  Negroes;  other  inhabitants  of  the 
country  have  straight  hair.  But  why  accumulate  evi- 
dence, when  monuments,  temples  and  pyramids  rise 
up  to  declare  the  antiquity  of  the  Negro  race? 

The  Word  Negro. — The  word  Negro  is  a  name  given 
to  a  considerable  branch  of  the  human  family  possess- 
ing certain  physical  characteristics  which  distinguish  it 
in  a  very  marked  degree  from  the  other  branches  or 
varieties  of  mankind.  "It  is  not  wise,"  says  George 
Williams,  "for  intelligent  Negroes  in  America  to  seek 
to  drop  the  word  *  Negro. '  It  is  a  good,  strong  and 
healthy  word,  and  ought  to  live.  It  should  be  covered 
with  glory ;  let  Negroes  do  it. ' ' 

The  Term  Negro. — The  term,  Negro,  is  properly 
applied  to  the  races  inhabiting  that  part  of  Africa  lying 


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??  PROGRESS    OF   A    RACE. 

between  latitude  10  degrees  north  and  20  degrees 
south  and  to  their  descendants  in  the  old  and  new 
world.  It  does  not  include  the  Egyptians,  Berbers, 
Abyssinians,  Hottentots,  Nubians,  etc.,  although  in 
some  writings  it  comprises  these  and  other  dark- 
skinned  nations.  One  characteristic,  however,  the 
crisp  hair,  belongs  only  to  the  true  Negro. 

Africa  for  the  Negroes. — Centuries  of  effort  and 
centuries  of  corresponding  failure  have  fully  demon- 
strated that  the  white  man  cannot  colonize  the  largest 
part  of  the  great  continent  of  Africa.  It  seems  that,  in 
the  providence  of  God,  this  great  and  glorious  conti- 
nent is  chiefly  for  the  colored  races,  and  especially  for 
the  Negro.  Is  it  not  possible  that  this  great  continent 
with  its  millions  of  Negroes  occupying  the  most  fertile 
portions,  and  in  all  more  than  one-half  of  the  conti- 
nent, is  to  be  enlightened,  civilized  and  Christianized 
by  the  American  Negro? 

Deportation, — Let  it  not  be  understood  that  the  pre- 
ceding paragraph  argues  in  favor  of  deportation  of  the 
American  Negro  to  Africa.  This  is  impossible,  but 
that  the  American  Negro  has  a  part  in  the  elevation  of 
the  black  brother  of  the  dark  continent  is  as  true  as 
that  the  Caucasian  of  America  has  a  part  in  the  Chris- 
tianization  of  the  white  race  in  other  parts  of  the 
world.  The  Negro  is  better  adapted  to  the  climate 
and  can  endure  the  hardships  of  mission  work  in  Africa 
much  better  than  the  Caucasian. 

Not  Well  Considered. — Booker  T.  Washington  says  : 
"I  recall  that  a  few  months  ago,  when,  on  the  occasion 
of  six  hundred  deluded  colored  people  sailing  from 
Savannah  for  Liberia,  some  of  the  newspapers  and  not 
a  few  of  the  magazines  gravely  announced  to  an 
expectant  people  that  the  race  problem  was  in  process 


HISTORY    OF   THE    RACE.  23 

of  solving  itself.  These  newspapers  and  magazine 
writers  did  not  take  into  consideration  the  important 
fact  that  perhaps  before  breakfast  that  same  morning 
six  hundred  colored  babies  were  born.  I  have  a  friend 
down  in  Georgia  whose  unfailing  solution  of  the  race 
problem  is,  that  the  Negro  should  be  cooped  up  in  some 
place,  surrounded  by  a  high  fence,  and  kept  separate 
from  the  whites.  That  would  not  even  reach  the  dig- 
nity of  touching  the  question,  since  it  would  be  utterly 
impossible  to  keep  the  blacks  inside  the  fence  to  say 
nothing  of  the  impossible  task  of  keeping  the  whites 
outside  of  it.  If  the  Negroes  were  fenced  in  Africa 
the  white  men  would  break  in  at  the  first  cry  that  gold 
existed  in  the  inhabited  territory.  Besides,  the  Negro 
has  never  yet  been  able  to  exile  himself  to  any 
place  the  white  man  would  not  follow  him  and  break 
in." 

Separation  would  Not  Relieve. — "Talks  for  the 
Times"  says:  "If  such  a  separation  were  even  pos- 
sible, are  we  simple  enough  to  believe  that  that  would 
relieve  us  of  the  presence  of  the  white  man?  He  who 
is  scouring  the  seas,  dredging  the  oceans,  tunneling 
the  mountains,  boring  his  way  into  the  frozen  regions 
of  the  North,  parceling  out  the  continent  of  Africa,  and 
giving  civilization  and  laws  to  its  tribes — it  is  not 
likely,  I  say,  that  this  restless,  energetic  white  brother 
will  respect  the  boundary  line  of  a  state  or- territory  at 
home ;  he  has  not  done  so  in  reference  to  the  Indian ;  he 
would  never  do  so  in  reference  to  us.  Were  it  possible 
for  us  to  go  off  to-morrow  to  some  territory  by  our- 
selves, within  a  week  the  Connecticut  Yankee  would  be 
there  peddling  his  wooden  nutmegs.  The  patent  medi- 
cine man  would  be  there  selling  his  nostrums.  The 
Georgia  Cracker  and  the  Kentucky  horse-trader  would 


24  PkOGKESS    OF   A    RACE. 

be  there  with  their  horses  and  mules.  The  Southern 
white  man  would  especially  be  there,  for  he  has  been 
so  accustomed  to  us  from  his  childhood  that  he  does 
not  feel  at  home  without  us,  although  sometimes,  in 
the  heat  of  political  excitement,  he  wishes  we  were  in 
Africa  or  a  warmer  place. ' ' 

Not  Possible. — Judge  Gunby  says:  "The  favorite 
remedy  for  the  race  problem  with  some  has  come  to  be 
the  deportation  of  the  Negroes.  I  am  prepared  to  say 
with  the  utmost  confidence  that  this  remedy  does  not 
meet  with  general  approval,  although  it  is  fair  to  con- 
cede that  it  has  many  able  advocates.  The  Negroes  do 
not  desire  to  leave  and  the  great  majority  of  the  whites 
do  not  want  them  to  go.  The  enforced  removal  of  the 
Negroes  would  be  unnatural  and  unjust ;  cruel,  bitter 
cruel,  would  be  the  task  of  tearing  Negroes  from  their 
genial  Southern  homes,  their  Southern  friends,  their 
churches,  their  graveyards,  and  the  haunts  they  love  so 
well.  Sadder  than  the  melancholy  processions  that 
moved  to  the  shore  from  Goldsmith's  'Deserted  Vil- 
lage, '  sadder  than  the  doomed  band  of  Acadian  farm- 
ers that  looked  for  the  last  time  on  their  burning  homes 
in  Grand  Pre,  would  be  the  final  movement  of  the 
Negroes  from  the  South.  It  would  be  worse  than  slav- 
ery ;  for  the  Negroes  in  a  colony  of  their  own  would 
degenerate  and  speedily  lose  the  civilization  they  have 
derived  from  contact  with  the  whites.  Such  a  crime 
would  never  be  forgiven.  It  would  raise  a  protest  from 
whites  and  blacks  alike  and  from  an  indignant  world. 
The  very  stones  would  rise  up  and  cry  against  it. 
Deportation  is  not  conceivable ;  because,  although  a  few 
might  be  transported  to  Africa  or  scattered  elsewhere, 
yet  reproduction  will  increase  their  number  in  spite  of 
such  trifling  methods,  and  our  only  way  to  get  rid  of 


HISTORY   OF   THE    RACE.  25 

their  presence  in  the  country  is  to  kill  them — which 
would  be  difficult,  for  many  of-  them  already  have 
guns." 

Points  of  Superiority. — A  certain  writer  says  that 
the  Negro  has  less  nervous  sensibility  than  the  white, 
and  is  not  subject  to  nervous  afflictions.  He  is  com- 
paratively insensible  to  pain,  bearing  severe  surgical 
operations  well;  he  seldom  has  a  fetid  breath,  but 
transpires  much  excrementious  matter  by  means  of 
glands  of  the  skin,  whose  odorous  secretion  is  well 
known.  His  skin  is  soft,  and  his  silky  hair,  though  called 
wool,  does  not  present  the  characteristics  of  wool,  and 
differs  but  little  from  that  of  other  races  except  in 
color  and  in  its  curly  and  twisted  form.  He  flourishes 
under  the  fiercest  heat  and  unhealthy  dampness  of  the 
tropics  where  the  white  man  soon  dies. 

Physical  Characteristics. — The  physical  characteris- 
tics of  the  black,  or  Negro,  race  are:  A  large  and 
strong  skeleton,  long  and  thick  skull,  projecting  jaws, 
skin  from  dark  brown  to  black,  woolly  hair,  thick  lips, 
flat  nose  and  wide  nostrils.  The  typical  color  of  the 
race  is  not  coal  black  but  the  dark  brown  of  a  horse- 
chestnut.  Observation  shows  that  the  darkest  speci- 
mens are  found  on  the  borders  where  Negroes  have 
been  in  contact  with  lighter  races,  while  in  the  popu- 
lation of  the  Congo  basin,  which  has  been  almost  com- 
pletely free  from  mixture,  the  dark-brown  type  pre- 
vails. It  should,  however,  be  understood,  that  there 
is  as  great  a  difference  among  Negroes  as  among 
Caucasians. 

Distinguishing  Traits. — The  Africans,  as  a  race,  are 
passionately  fond  of  music  and  have  many  ingeniously 
contrived  musical  instruments.  While  some  of  their 
inventions  may  have  been  borrowed  from  other  people, 


9(5  PROGRESS    OF    A    RACE. 

it  is  a  well  established  fact  that  they  are  the  inventors 
of  an  ingenious  musical  instrument.  They  have  a  keen 
sense  of  the  ridiculous  and  are  of  a  cheerful  disposi- 
tion. They  are  naturally  kind  hearted  and  hospitable 
to  strangers  and  are  generally  ready  to  receive  instruc- 
tion and  to  profit  by  it.  They  are  quick  to  perceive 
the  beauty  of  goodness  and  hence  they  generally 
appreciate  the  services  of  missionaries  in  their  behalf, 
and,  but  for  the  curse  of  intoxicating  drinks  brought 
upon  them  by  unscrupulous  white  traders,  the  dark 
continent  would  shine  more  brightly  with  the  light  of 
Him  who  is  the  light  of  the  world. 

Fidelity  of  the  Negro. — During  the  Civil  war  the 
fidelity  of  the  negro  was  tested  to  a  most  remarkable 
degree;  and  he  stood  the  test.  Nearly  all  able-bodied 
men  of  the  South  were  in  the  Confederate  army.  Only 
helpless  women  and  children,  and  old  or  disabled  men 
were  left  with  the  slaves  to  care  for  the  plantation 
houses.  While  the  white-faced  "Copperhead"  of  the 
North  was  aiding  the  South,  the  black-faced  slave  was 
caring  for  the  helpless  ones  in  Southern  houses. 
Strange  as  it  may  seem,  these  same  colored  men  knew 
that  victory  for  the  Union  meant  freedom  for  them- 
selves. General  Sherman,  in  describing  his  first  day's 
experience  on  his  famous  "March  to  the  Sea,"  says: 
"The  negroes  were  simply  frantic  with  joy.  When- 
ever they  heard  my  name,  they  clustered  about  my 
horse,  shouting  and  praying  in  their  peculiar  style, 
which  had  a  natural  eloquence  that  would  move  a 
stone.  I  have  witnessed  hundreds,  if  not  thousands, 
of  such  scenes.  * 

"We  made  our  bivouac,  and  I  walked  up  to  a  plan- 
tation house  close  by,  where  were  assembled  many 
negroes,  among  them  an  old,  gray-haired  man,  of  as 


HISTORY    OF    THE    RACE.  Zl 

fine  a  head  as  I  ever  saw.  I  asked  him  if  he  under- 
stood about  the  war  and  its  progress.  He  said  he  did; 
that  he  had  been  looking  for  the  'angel  of  the  Lord* 
ever  since  he  was  knee-high,  and,  though  we  profess 
to  be  fighting  for  the  Union,  he  supposed  that  slavery 
was  the  cause,  and  that  our  success  was  to  be  his  free- 
dom. I  asked  him  if  all  the  negro  slaves  compre- 
hended this  fact,  and  he  said  they  surely  did." 

Every  Union  soldier  escaping  from  Confederate 
prison-pen,  knew  that  it  was  safe  to  make  himself 
known  to  a  colored  man.  No  Union  soldier  ever 
asked  in  vain  for  help  from  his  dusky  brother. 

Drink  Traffic. — The  drink  traffic  carried  on  by  civil- 
ized nations  in  Africa  is  the  curse  of  millions.  The 
same  ship  that  carries  missionaries  to  its  shores  carries 
thousands  of  gallons  of  rum  that  does  more  to  degrade 
the  helpless  and  ignorant  Negro  than  many  mission- 
aries through  a  lifetime  can  succeed  in  winning  to  a 
better  life.  Let  it  be  known  that  the  Christian  (?) 
nations,  Great  Britain  and  the  United  States,  are  lead- 
ers in  this  degrading  and  soul  destroying  business. 
This  can  be  permitted  only  where  dollars  and  the  greed 
of  gain  surpass  in  estimation  the  worth  of  true  man- 
hood and  of  immortal  souls. 

Ingenuity. — The  African  Negroes  display  consider- 
able ingenuity  in  the  manufacture  of  weapons,  in  the 
working  of  iron,  in  the  weaving  of  mats,  cloth  and 
baskets  from  dyed  grasses,  in  the  dressing  of  the  skins 
of  animals,  in  the  structure  of  their  huts  and  household 
utensils  and  in  the  various  implements  and  objects  of 
use  in  a  barbarous  state  of  society. 

In  Other  Continents. — In  addition  to  Africa,  Negroes 
are  found  in  the  United  States,  Brazil,  West  Indicc, 
Peru,  Arabia  and  the  Cape  Verd  Islands.  They  are 


28  PROGRESS   OF  A   RACE. 

rare  in  Europe  and  the  islands  of  the  Pacific.  Africa 
is,  however,  the  native  home  of  the  Negro.  Whenever 
he  is  found  outside  of  this  great  continent  it  is  because 
he  has  been  carried  away  and  subjected  to  slavery. 

Unknown  to  Hebrews. — Negroes  were  almost  un- 
known to  Hebrews.  They  were  unknown  to  the 
Greeks  until  the  seventh  century  B.  C.  About  twenty- 
three  hundred  years  B.  C.  the  Egyptians  became 
acquainted  with  the  Negroes,  who  helped  them  on 
their  monuments  as  early  as  1,600  years  B.  C. 

Liberia. — Liberia  is  a  Negro  republic  of  western 
Africa,  on  the  upper  coast  of  Upper  Guinea.  It  was 
founded  by  the  American  Colonization  Company.  The 
first  expedition  of  eighty-six  emigrants  was  sent  out  in 
February,  1820.  It  was  organized  as  a  home  for  the 
Negro  of  the  United  States.  The  suffering  that  slavery 
brought  upon  the  Negro  aroused  his  friends,  and,  fol- 
lowing the  plan  of  Wilberforce  and  other  Englishmen, 
Liberia  was  founded  as  a  refuge  for  the  colored  men 
who  would  avail  themselves  of  its  blessings. 

The  constitution  of  Liberia,  like  that  of  the  United 
States,  establishes  an  entire  separation  of  the  church 
from  the  state,  but  all  citizens  of  the  republic  must 
belong  to  the  Negro  race.  The  constitution  has  recently 
been  changed  and  this  point  has  been  modified.  Its 
present  constitution  was  adopted  in  1847  and  is  similar 
to  that  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States.  The 
article  on  slavery  reads  thus :  * '  There  shall  be  no  slav- 
ery within  the  republic,  nor  shall  any  citizen  of  this 
republic,  or  any  person  residing  therein,  deal  in  slaves 
either  within  or  without  the  republic. ' ' 

The  first  years  witnessed  the  struggle  of  a  noble  band 
of  colored  people  who  were  seeking  a  new  home  on  the 
edge  of  a  continent  given  over  to  idolatry.  Immigra- 


HISTORY  OF  THE   RACE.  £9 

tion  went  forward  slowly,  but  the  republic  continued 
establishing  and  extending  itself  until  it  now  numbers 
more  than  one  million  inhabitants.  Already  in  1853 
Bishop  Scott,  of  the  M.  E.  Church,  stated  that  the  gov- 
ernment of  Liberia  was  extremely  well  administered. 
In  his  visit  of  several  months  he  saw  no  intoxicated 
colonists  and  did  not  hear  a  profane  word,  the  Sab- 
bath was  kept  in  a  singularly  strict  manner  and  the 
church  crowded  with  worshipers. 

Agriculture  is  carried  on  with  increasing  success. 
Sugar  was  formerly  the  principal  article  of  produce 
and  of  manufacture,  but  through  the  efforts  of  Mr. 
Morris,  coffee  has  become  the  principal  article.  Rice, 
arrowroot  and  cocoa  are  also  cultivated ;  trade  is  rap- 
idly extending.  Although  the  circumstances  that  led 
to  the  founding  of  this  republic  passed  away  when  the 
shackles  were  torn  from  the  Negroes  of  the  South,  yet 
it  had  done  a  vast  amount  of  good  before  the  days  of 
the  great  rebellion,  and  to-day  stands  as  a  beacon  light 
penetrating  the  darkness  and  gloom  of  Africa.  May 
we  not  hope  that  through  the  ages  to  come  the  light  of 
this  Christian  republic  will  reach  the  dark,  trackless 
regions  of  African  Paganism  and  bring  millions  to  the 
brightness  of  its  shining? 

Sierra  Leone. — Sierre  Leone  is  under  the  protecting 
hand  of  England,  it  has  a  population  of  half  a  million. 
Freetown,  the  capital,  is  a  well  built  city,  with  a  popu- 
lation of  about  seventy  thousand,  not  more  than  150 
whites.  There  is  no  friction  among  the  races.  A  man 
is  a  man  for  what  he  is,  what  he  knows  and  what  he 
has.  The  west  coast  of  Africa  is  often  said  to  be  a 
death  trap  on  account  of  the  malarial  regions  along  the 
coast.  This,  however,  is  not  substantiated  by  the 
report*  from  Freetown.  While  it  has  little  or  none  of 


30  PRGGRtoS   OF  A   RACE. 

the  modern  hygienic  and  sanitary  improvements  and 
only  six  physicians,  four  colored  and  two  white,  the 
death  rate  in  1896  was  lower  than  that  of  Atlanta 
with  all  her  advantages  of  altitude,  hospitals,  water, 
sewers  and  other  modern  sanitary  improvements, 
together  with  her  several  hundred  physicians  and  three 
medical  colleges.  The  reason  given  for  this  is  that  in 
Freetown  the  majority  of  the  colored  people  are  in  a 
position  to  take  care  of  themselves;  while  in  Atlanta 
the  death  rate  is  greatly  increased  by  poverty  and 
ignorance. 

The  Mayor  of  Freetown  is  a  rich  colored  man.  The 
streets  of  the  city  are  lighted  with  oil  lamps,  there  are 
no  street  cars,  and  only  one  railroad  entering  the  city. 
The  people  are  industrious  and  intelligent  and  hate 
ignorance.  A  man  going  there,  if  he  wishes  the  respect 
of  the  people,  must  be  a  good  mechanic,  lawyer,  doctor 
or  preacher.  An  American  common  laborer  finds  no 
open  door  for  the  African  can  be  secured  much  cheaper. 
Africa,  like  other  parts  of  the  civilized  world,  is  calling 
for  brains,  morals  and  money ;  without  at  least  one  of 
these  Africa  does  not  want  you. 

Purpose  and  Preparation. — ''Unless  the  Negro  out 
of  Africa  goes  to  Africa  seeking  a  home  because  he  has 
none ;  goes  on. his  own  volition,  with  as  correct  a  knowl- 
edge of  Africa  as  may  be  obtained  from  the  writings  of 
trustworthy  African  travelers  and  explorers  and  mis- 
sionaries, reinforced  by  race  loyalty,  and  with  greater 
confidence  in  himself  and  his  face  than  in  any  alien 
self  and  alien  race ;  goes  from  a  sense  of  duty  imposed 
by  his  Christian  enlightenment,  and  not  unprovided 
with  ability  and  previous  experiences  to  organize  and 
control  labor,  with  as  ample  means  as  he  would  go 
from  the  Atlantic  coast  of  the  United  States  to  the 


HISTORY  OF   THE    RACE.  31 

Pacific  slope  for  the  purpose  of  engaging  in  business, 
he  is  wholly  and  entirely  unsuited  for  Africa,  and 
would  impede  by  his  presence  not  only  the  progress  of 
Liberia  (if  he  went  thither)  but  any  part  of  Africa  by 
his  unprofitable  presence,  and  ought  to  be  denied  the 
right  to  expatriate  himself. ' ' 

Africa's  Future.— "  If  my  opinion  about  the  future 
were  asked,"  says  Heli  Chatelain,  "I  should  not  hesi- 
tate to  declare  my  conviction  that  within  one  hundred 
years  all  Bantu-land  will  contain  more  than  500,000,000 
inhabitants,  will  equal  Europe  in  civilization,  will  be 
united  in  a  great  United  States  of  Central  Africa  under 
a  new  and  improved  edition  of  our  American  constitu- 
tion, will  both  speak  and  write  a  common  language, 
the  mother-tongue  of  all  Bantu  dialects,  as  revived  by 
scholars  and  enriched  with  the  best  developments  of 
its  daughters,  and  will  produce  masterpieces  of  litera- 
ture, science,  and  art,  vying  with  all  the  best  that 
Europe  and  America  will  then  be  able  to  bring  forth. 


CHAPTER  II. 

SLAVERY. 

Knowledge  Worth  Knowing. — Dr.  Hamilton  says: 
1  'The  popular  notions  which  have  prevailed  concerning 
African  slavery  have  shaped  imaginations  and  con- 
trolled opinions  concerning  the  origin  and  destiny  of 
the  African  race.  Men  have  asserted  boldly  and  arro- 
gantly that  the  African  people  were  designed  in  the 
very  first  cosmogony  to  be  hewers  of  wood  and 
drawers  of  water.  Slavery  was  their  natural  relation. 
As  the  slaves  in  America  within  the  recollection  of  the 
present  generation  have  been  Negroes,  most  persons 
have  thought  that  all  slaves  have  been  Negroes. 
As  Negroes  have  come  from  Africa,  it  has  been  com- 
monly believed  that  all  Africans  were  Negroes.  As  the 
sons  of  Ham  in  the  dispersion  went  into  Africa  to  live, 
it  has  been  supposed  that  all  Negroes  were  the  sons  of 
Ham.  And  as  Ham  is  said  in  the  book  of  Genesis  to 
have  looked  on  the  nakedness  of  his  drunken  father 
and  so  incurred  his  anger  that  he  visited  the  sin  of  the 
father  on  the  son  of  Ham,  and  in  his  anger  cried  out, 
'Cursed  be  Canaan;  a  servant  of  servants  shall  be 
unto  his  brethren, '  it  has  been  claimed  scriptural 
rant  is  found  for  the  enslavement  of  Negr' 
Of  such  knowledge  and  such  «rgu.  lent  it  pertinent 
to  affirm,  in  the  language  of  *  r.  Jc  BillL  ~iat  it 

would  be  better  not  to  kn^ *  hi:     a  than  to 

know  so  many  things  that  are  L 

In  Africa. — From  time  immemorial  slavery  has 
existed  in  Africa.  The  oldest  records  of  the  human 
race,  the  inscriptions  of  the  Nile  valley,  show  us  that 

8  Progress  33 


34  PROGRESS    OF   A    RACE. 

Negro  slaves  from  the  Soudan  were  then,  as  to-day,  one 
of  the  principal  articles  of  Egyptian  trade. 

Neither  the  institution  of  slavery  nor  the  slave  trade 
were  introduced  into  Africa  or  forced  upon  the  natives 
by  Arabic,  Moslems,  or  European  Christians.  At  all 
times,  so  far  as  human  knowledge  goes,  slavery  has 
been  a  constituent  element  in  the  social  order  of  Negro 
Africa.  It  is  said  of  two  or  three  African  Negro  tribes 
that  they  object  to  selling  their  own  tribesmen,  and 
oppose  slave  dealing  in  a  general  way.  But  these 
exceptions  only  confirm  the  rule  that  slavery  is  the 
universal  practice  of  native  Africa.  There  the  trade 
in  human  beings  is  considered  just  as  honest  as  trade 
in  any  other  merchandise. 

All  those  who  want  to  work  for  the  extinction  of 
slavery  in  Africa  should  know  from  the  start,  that  for 
one  Arab  or  European  slave-holder,  slave -raider,  or 
slave-dealer,  there  are  hundreds  of  African  slave- 
holders, slave-dealers  and  slave-raiders.  Therefore, 
in  their  effort  to  conquer  that  monster  they  will  have 
to  face  thousands  of  interested  native  opponents. 
This  will  be  made  clearer  by  a  consideration  of — 

Sources  of  Slavery.— Chief  among  these  is  (i)  the 
right  of  parents  to  sell  their  children.  Every  child 
born  is  the  property  of  its  maternal  uncle ;  in  a  few 
tribes  of  its  father.  The  uncle  or  the  father  has  the 
right  to  dispose  of  his  property  as  he  pleases.  He  may 
even  kill  this  human  property  and  no  one  can  prose- 
cute him,  claim  damages,  or  demand  his  punishment. 
If  he  sells  his  children,  separating  child  from  mother, 
nobody  seems  to  think  he  is  doing  wrong.  The  victim 
itself  is  expected  not  to  protest  against  it  more  than  a 
young  girl  of  our  land  would  protest  against  being 
sent  to  a  boar  ding,  school  for  the  first  time. 


SLAVERY. 


35 


(2.)    The  Right  of  a  Free  Adult  to  Sell  Himself.— 

Runaway  slaves,  or  liberated  slaves,  rather  than  be  kid- 
naped, prefer  to  sell  themselves  to  masters  of  their 
own  choice.  In  times  of  famine  hundreds  are  com- 
pelled to  change  their  liberty  for  the  food  that  will 
keep  body  and  soul  together.  In  war,  cowards  would 
rather  live  as  slaves  than  die  as  freemen. 

(3.)  Insolvent  Debtors. — Those  who  have  lost  all 
resources  of  material,  animal  and  human  property, 
sometimes  give  themselves  for  debt. 

(4.)  Sale  of  Criminals  by  Legal  Action. — In  Africa 
there  are  no  prisons,  hence  punishment  is  always  paid 

by  death  or  the  pay- 
ment of  a  fine.  If 
the  fine  cannot  be 
paid  the  individual  is 
sold  to  pay  for  it. 

(5.)  Kidnaping. 
— This  is  much  more 
frequent  than  is  gen- 
erally supposed.  The 
kidnaped  generally 
resent  the  injustice 
committed,  and  fre- 
quently, with  tears 
in  their  eyes,  enter- 
tain a  secret,  though 
forlorn,  hope  of  re- 
gaining their  liberty 
AN  EX-SLAVE.  and  returning  to 

their  homes. 

(6. )  Capture  in  War. — Captives  are  often  committed 
to  slavery,  many  wars  are  often  even  made  that  cap- 
tives may  be  taken  and  carried  into  slavery. 


36 


PROGRESS   OF  A   RACE. 


Slaves  of  Slaves. — It  is  not  an  unusual  thing  for 
slaves  to  own  slaves,  and  in  old  Calabor  plantation, 
slave-holding  by  slaves  is  so  common  that  you  often 
hear  of  slaves  belonging  to  slaves  of  slaves.  Any  slave 
may  by  industry  and  thrift  redeem  himself,  take  his 
seat  among  the  tribal  headman,  and  aspire  to  the 
kingship. 

Early  History  of  Slavery. — The  history  of  Negro 
slavery  carried  on  by  Europeans,  beginning  in  Portu- 
gal over  a  period  of 
400  years,  and  in- 
volving the  exporta- 
tion by  violence  from 
their  African  homes 
of  forty  million  of 
men,  women  and  chil- 
dren, is  one  of  ex- 
ceeding and  unimag- 
inable bitterness.  It 
is  too  late  to  crimi- 
nate those  who  were 
responsible  for  be- 
ginning the  slave 
trade  and  for  perpet- 
uating the  system  of 
bondage  that  grew 
AN  EX-SLAVE.  out  of  it.  Many  of 

them  were  conscien- 
tious, Christian  men,  who  worked  without  a  thought 
of  the  wrong  they  were  doing.  Some  of  them  really 
believed  they  were  benefiting  the  Negro  by  buying 
him  out  of  a  condition  of  barbarism  into  the  enlight- 
ening and  purifying  influences  of  Christianity. 
Livingstone's  Tomb. — On  Livingstone's  tomb-slab 


SLAVERY.  37 

in  Westminster  Abbey  are  engraved  these,  among  the 
last  words  which  he  wrote:  "All  I  can  add,  in  my 
solitude  is:  May  Heaven's  rich  blessing  come  down  on 
everyone,  Americans,  English  and  Turk,  who  will 
help  to  heal  this  open  sore  of  the  world,  the  slave 
trade." 

For  What  Purpose. — Slaves  are  hunted  by  Moslems, 
Arabs,  half-breeds,  or  Mohammedan  Negroes,  for  the 
three  following  purposes:  i,  To  supply  labor  for  their 
fields  and  plantations  in  the  Soudan,  in  Zanzibar  and 
the  adjoining  coast  belt ;  2,  to  supply  Negresses  for  the 
harems  of  Turkey,  especially  Arabia,  Egypt,  Tripoli, 
and  Morocco ;  3,  to  obtain  carriers  for  the  trading  cara- 
vans taking  European  goods  to  the  interior  and  bring- 
ing down  in  exchange  the  tusks  of  ivory  and  the  balls 
of  rubber  so  much  coveted  by  Europeans  and  Amer- 
icans. 

European  Plantation  Slavery. — Under  the  pretense 
of  redeeming  slaves  from  patriarchal  native  slavery 
these  poor  creatures  are  taken  into  European  planta- 
tion slavery,  which  means  that  the  slave  has  no  more 
free  time,  no  accumulation  of  property,  no  hope  of 
redeeming  one's  self  by  thrift,  no  home  life,  no  possi- 
bility of  flight,  but  unremitting  toil  from  morning  until 
night  in  the  broiling  sun,  under  the  lash  of  the  driver, 
without  pay,  and  often  with  insufficient  food.  His  only 
prospect  is  that  he  is  being  worked  slowly  to  death. 

In  Asia. — Slavery  existed  in  Persia,  China  and 
India.  Parents  sold  their  children  to  be  slaves.  There 
was  slavery  among  the  Hebrews.  All  Africans  are 
not  Negroes,  many  of  them  are  entirely  distinct  from 
the  Negro — the  idea  that  a  slave  is  always  black  is 
erroneous.  It  is  not  Noah,  nor  Ham,  nor  Canaan,  nor 
Africa,  but  sin  and  slavery  that  has  cursed  the  Negro. 


38 


PROGRESS   OF    A   RACE. 


Portugal  inaugurated  the  slave  trade.  Antonio 
Gonsalve  brought  home  some  gold  dust  and  ten  slaves 
in  1443.  These  were  probably  the  first  slaves  taken 
from  western  Africa  by  Europeans.  They  were  pre- 
sented to  Pope  Martin  V. ,  and  he  conferred  on  Portu- 
gal the  right  of  possession  of  all  countries  discovered 

between  Cape  Bo- 
jado  and  the  Indies. 
Portugal  also  had  the 
first  of  many  chart- 
ered companies  to 
trade  in  African  gold 
and  slaves. 

Columbus  began 
his  intercourse  with 
the  natives  of  Africa 
by  kidnapping  and 
he  gave  the  word  for 
the  opening  of  the 
slave  trade. 

Slavery  in  the 
New  World.  — Afri- 
can  slavery  was  in- 
AN  EX-SLAVE.  troduced     into     the 

New   World   by  the 

Spaniards.  Their  cruelty  to  the  inoffensive  Indians  in 
the  islands  of  the  West  Indies  had  greatly  reduced  their 
numbers.  The  poor  Indian  had  been  reduced  to  slavery, 
and  in  order  to  prevent  extermination  the  Spaniards  re- 
sorted to  importing  slaves  from  Africa.  The  first  cargo 
of  Negro  slaves  was  landed  at  San  Domingo  on  the  Is- 
land of  Hayti  in  the  year  1565.  These  were  at  once  put 
to  cultivating  the  plantations,  and  it  was  soon  found 
that,  as  Rev.  Wood  says,  "These  hearty  sons  of  Africa 


SLAVERY. 

not  only  survived  the  oppressive  cruelty  of  their  heart- 
less taskmasters,  but  in  time  they  rebelled  against 
them,  and  under  their  invincible  'Black  Prince,'  Tous- 
saint,  killed  them  in  battle  and  drove  them  from  the 
island. ' ' 

First  Slaves,  First  Liberty.— Bancroft  aptly  says : 
"Hayti,  the  first  spot  in  America  that  received  African 
slaves,  was  the  first  spot  to  set  the  example  of  African 
liberty." 

Slavery  in  the  United  States.— Slaves  were  brought 
by  the  Spaniards  to  Florida  soon  after  the  founding  of 
St.  Augustine,  in  1565,  but  the  first  slaves  brought  to 
the  colonies  were  landed  at  Jamestown,  Va.,  in  1619, 
by  a  Dutch  trading  vessel.  Twenty  Negroes  were 
exchanged  for  food  and  supplies.  These  had  no  per- 
sonal rights,  were  doomed  to  service  and  ignorance  by 
law,  and  could  not  leave  the  plantation  to  which  they 
belonged  without  a  written  pass  from  their  master. 
They  received  no  religious  instruction,  and  were  some- 
times given  to  white  ministers  as  pay  for  their  ser- 
vices. It  was,  however,  nearly  a  half  century  from 
this  time  before  the  system  of  Negro  slavery  became 
well  established  in  the  English  colonies. 

Slavery  Contended  for. — The  slave  trade  was  the 
great  industry  contended  for  and  carried  on.  In  1748 
there  were  97,000  slaves  carried  to  America  by  all 
nations,  and  up  to  that  time  the  total  number  was 
probably  a  million.  During  the  eighteenth  century  six 
millions  were  carried  to  America,  besides  the  horrible 
traffic  which  was  kept  up  to  the  coasts  of  the  Mediter- 
ranean, to  Egypt  and  Asia,  which  has  been  carried  on 
from  time  immemorial.  It  is  estimated  that  the  profits 
of  the  slave  trade  in  the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth 


40  PROGRESS   OF  A   RACE. 

centuries  from  the  Dark  Continent  were  equal  to  that 
on  gold  and  all  other  products. 

The  Slave  Trade. — We  cannot  in  a  few  paragraphs, 
relate  all  the  horrors  and  suffering  entailed  on  the 
African  race  by  means  of  the  slave  trade.  While  it  is 
true  that  the  revenue  of  the  kings  of  the  country  some- 
times depended  on  the  sale  of  slaves,  yet  it  remains  as 
a  blot  on  Christian  England  and  America's  record  that 
they  were  the  means  of  carrying  out  this  cruel  work. 
Some  Americans,  at  least,  went  one  step  further,  and, 
not  content  with  selling  slaves,  sold  their  own  sons  and 
daughters. 

The  Slave  Dealer. — Many  chapters  might  be  written 
upon  the  cruelties  and  inhuman  treatment  of  the  slave 
dealers,  but  as  all  who  have  engaged  in  this  nefarious 
business  have  rendered  their  accounts  to  God,  who  is 
just,  and  have  been  justly  dealt  with,  we  will  pen  but 
a  few  items  to  show  what  the  race  has  endured. 

Kidnapping. — Pro.bably  the  largest  number  of  slaves 
were  obtained  by  a  system  of  kidnapping.  In  this 
case  a  village  was  often  surrounded  in  the  night  and 
torches  applied  to  the  combustible  huts;  the  able- 
bodied  men  and  women  were  seized,  bound,  while 
children,  the  aged  and  infirm  were  cruelly  murdered  in 
the  light  of  their  burning  homes.  In  journeying  to 
the  seashore,  over  rugged  mountain  sides  and  through 
fields  of  cacti,  whose  sharp  thorns  would  lacerate  and 
tear  their  flesh,  they  endured  more  than  can  be 
expressed.  On  reaching  the  coast  the  best  of  them 
were  selected  and  placed  "on  board  ships,  while  those 
who  had  not  endured  the  march,  or  were  maimed^ 
were  often  murdered  in  cold  blood. 

It  is  said  that 'King  Loango,  "rather  than  incur  the 
expense  of  feeding  slaves  for  whom  he  found  no  mar* 


SLAVERY. 


41 


ket,  sent  them  to  a  side  of  a  hill  and  cruelly  butchered 
them  there. 

Middle  Passage.— The  slave  ships  were  frequently 
crowded  to  such  an  extent  that  men  were  barely  allowed 
room  enough  to  lie  down. 

Lord  Palmerston  says:    "A  Negro  has  not  as  much 


CAPTURING  SLAVES. 


room  in  a  sea  ship  as  a  corpse  in  a  coffin. ' '  Bancroft 
says:  "The  horrors  of  the  middle  passage  correspond 
to  the  infamy  of  the  trade."  Small  vessels,  of  little 
more  than  two  hundred  tons  burden,  were  prepared 
for  the  traffic,  for  these  could  most  easily  penetrate  the 
bays  and  rivers  of  the  coast;  and  quickly  obtaining 


42  PROGRESS  OF  A  RACE. 

lading,  could  soonest  hurry  away  from  the  deadly  air 
of  Western  Africa.  In  such  a  bark,  five  hundred 
Negroes  and  more  were  stored,  exciting  wonder  that 
men  could  have  lived,  within  the  tropics,  cribbed  in  so 
few  inches  of  room.  The  inequality  in  force  between 
the  crew  and  the  cargo,  led  to  the  use  of  manacles ;  the 
hands  of  stronger  men  were  made  fast  together,  and 
the  right  leg  of  one  was  chained  to  the  left  of  another. 
The  avarice  of  the  trader  was  a  partial  guarantee  of 
the  security  of  life,  as  far  as  it  depended  upon  him ; 
the  Negroes,  as  they  came  from  the  higher  level  to  the 
seaside,  poorly  fed  on  the  sad  pilgrimage,  sleeping  at 
night  on  the  damp  earth,  without  covering,  and  often 
reaching  the  coast  at  unfavorable  seasons,  imbibed  the 
seeds  of  disease,  which  confinement  on  board  ship 
quickened  into  feverish  activity.  There  have  been 
examples  where  one -half  of  them — it  has  been  said, 
even  two- thirds  of  them — perished  on  the  passage." 

President  Lincoln,  who  was  always  easily  moved  by 
appeals  for  mercy,  when  appealed  to  by  a  slave  trader, 
promptly  and  sternly  refused,  although  the  appeal  was 
very  pathetic,  and  the  man  had  served  a  long  time  in 
prison.  The  President  said:  "I  could  forgive  the 
foulest  murder  for  such  an  appeal,  but  the  man  who 
could  go  to  Africa  and  rob  her  of  her  children  and  sell 
them  into  endless  bondage,  with  no  other  motive  than 
that  of  getting  dollars  and  cents,  is  so  much  worse 
than  the  most  depraved  murderer  that  he  can  never 
receive  a  pardon  at  my  hands.  No !  he  may  rot  in  jail 
before  he  shall  have  liberty  by  any  act  of  mine. ' ' 

Profit. — Dr.  Roy  says:  "Before  the  annual  meeting 
of  the  American  Missionary  Association,  in  1859,  Rev. 
Dr.  George  B.  Cheever,  from  Harper's  Encyclopedia 
of  Commerce,  made  the  following  statements  as  to  the 


SLAVERY.  43 

slave  trade:  For  it  every  year  twelve  vessels  were 
fitted  out  by  three  cities  each,  Boston  and  Baltimore 
being  of  the  number,  and  from  other  places  enough  to 
make  forty  slave  ships,  owned  mostly  by  northern  men. 
Each  made  two  trips  a  year,  at  a  total  cost  of  three 
million  dollars.  The  receipts  being  twenty  million  dol- 
lars, left  for  profit  seventeen  million  dollars.  One 
voyage  of  the  fleet  would  bring  in  twenty-four  thousand 
slaves,  of  whom  four  thousand  were  lost  by  death. 
The  two  trips  a  year  would  make  the  total  importation 
forty  thousand.  These  were  mainly  taken  to  Cuba, 
but  fifteen  thousand  were  for  the  United  States  the 
preceding  year.  A  slave  ship  was  landed  after  the  war 
broke  out,  in  a  distant  part  of  the  South,  and  there  the 
slaves  were  held  till  after  the  war.  It  has  been  esti- 
mated by  Hon.  John  M.  Langston  and  Col.  Keating, 
of  the  Memphis  Appeal,  that  up  to  1825,  forty  million 
slaves  had  been  imported  to  the  West  Indies  and  to  the 
American  continent. 

Slavery  a  Curse. — Some  writers  will  insist  that 
American  slavery  has  been  a  blessing  to  the  race. 
Slavery  is  dead,  and 'there  is  no  one  that  would  revive 
it.  Ancient  slavery  may  have  been  a  step  forward  in 
evolution,  because  it  ended  in  emancipation,  and  ulti- 
mately in  the  fusion  of  the  races.  But  American  slav- 
ery was  a  long  step  backward. 

It  wa£  carried  on  by  a  desire  of  Europeans  in  a  lan- 
guid climate  to  have  the  work  done  for  them  instead 
of  doing  it  themselves. 

Fusion  in  the  case  of  Negro  slavery  was  fatally  pre- 
cluded by  color;  there  could  be  no  intermingling 
except  that  which  arose  from  the  abuse  of  the  Negro 
woman  by  her  white  master.  While  household  slavery 
may  frequently  have  been  mild,  the  plantation  slave 


44  PROGRESS   OF  A   RACE. 

was  overworked  and  tortured,  and,  with  impunity, 
sometimes  murdered.  If  certain  writers  are  correct  in 
attempting  to  show  that  the  slave  was  contented  in  his 
bonds,  why  those  fetters,  those  cruel  slave  laws,  those 
bloodhounds?  If  he  was  fully  content  to  live  in  slavery, 
why  the  laws  that  forbade  the  holding  of  meetings,  the 
restraint  from  moving  about  freely,  the  liability  to 
arrest  when  found  alone,  and  the  subjection  to  flogging 
when  found  away  from  the  plantation  Think  of  the 
revolting  sights  when,  at  public  auction,  husband  and 
wife,  parent  and  child,  were  sold  apart,  a  sight  of 
human  cattle  on  the  way  to  the  auction  and  the  adver- 
tisements of  human  flesh,  especially  of  girls  nearly 
white.  Negro  quarters  on  the  plantation  were  hovels, 
his  clothes  rags,  his  food  coarse,  his  life  foul;  it  has 
been  asserted  that  his  life  was  happier  than  his  African 
home,  but  it  remains  to  be  proven  that  this  is  the  case. 

Slavery  Cannot  Be  Justified. — "Slavery  cannot  be 
justified,"  says  Gov.  Atkinson,  "but  may  not  God  have 
intended  that  you,  who  are  the  descendants  of  those 
whom  slavery  has  brought  into  the  country,  should 
pray  and  work  for  the  redemption  of  your  fatherland?" 

Slavery  Degrading.— Judge  Stroud,  in  his  "Sketch 
of  the  Laws  Relating  to  Slavery,"  declares:  "This 
maxim  of  civil  law,  the  genuine  and  degrading 
principle  of  slavery,  inasmuch  as  it  places  the  slave  on 
a  level  with  brute  animals,  prevails  universally  in  the 
slave-holding  states."  "It  is  plain  that  the  dominion 
of  the  master  is  as  unlimited  as  that  which  is  tolerated 
by  the  laws  of  any  civilized  country  in  relation  to  brute 
animals  to  quadrupeds,  to  use  the  words  of  the  civil 
law."  To  the  unprincipled  observer,  at  thirty-five 
years'  distance,  the  whole  system,  as  a  system,  was 
"the  sura  of  all  villianies,"  one  universal  harem,  that, 


SLAVERY.  45 

at  the  emancipation  of  the  slave,  had  swept  to  the 
vortex  of  tyranny,  degradation,  fornication  and  diabol- 
ism of  the  most  vicous  character. 

"In  the  case  of  Harris  vs.  Clarissa  and  others,  in 
the  March  term,  1834,  the  chief  justice,  in  delivering 
his  opinion  to  the  court,  said:  'In  Maryland,  the  issue 
(i.  e. ,  of  female  slaves)  is  considered  not  an  accessory, 
but  as  a  part  of  the  use,  like  that  of  other  female 
animals.  Suppose  a  brood  mare  be  hired  for  five  years, 
the  foals  belong  to  him  who  has  a  part  use  of  the  dam. 
The  slave  in  Maryland  in  this  respect  is  placed  on  no 
higher  or  different  ground. '  ' ' 

The  Slave  Trade  in  the  United  States. — In  1774,  the 
Articles  of  the  Continental  Association  agreed  that  no 
more  slaves  should  be  imported  and  that  the  African 
slave  trade  should  be  wholly  discontinued.  These 
agreements  were  signed  by  the  representatives  of  the 
colonies,  but  it  was  left  to  the  next  generation  to  carry 
out  the  agreement  fully. 

Abolishing  African  Slave  Trade. — In  his  message  to 
Congress  at  the  commencement  of  the  session  in  1806, 
President  Jefferson  asked  of  that  body  the  wisdom  of 
abolishing  African  slave  trade.  The  message  was 
referred  to  a  select  committee,  which  reported  a  bill  to 
prohibit  the  importation  of  slaves  into  the  United 
States.  This  bill,  of  course,  was  fought  by  the  South- 
ern representatives.  A  long  and  fiery  debate  ensued 
and  the  act  was  finally  passed,  after  several  amend- 
ments, imposing  a  fine  on  persons  engaged  in  the  slave 
trade  were  added. 

A  Baltimore  journal  of  this  period  says:  "Dealing 
in  slaves  has  become  a  large  business.  Establish- 
ments have  been  made  in  several  places  in  Maryland 
and  Virginia  at  which  they  are  sold  like  cattle.  These 


46  PROGRESS  OF  A    RACE. 

places  of  deposit  are  strongly  bolted  and  are  supplied 
with  iron  thumb-  screws  and  gags  ornamented  with 
cows'  skins,  ofttimes  bloody." 

A  Curious  Advertisement  in  a  religious  paper  of 
Richmond,  in  March,  1850,  is  found  the  following: 
"Who  wants  thirty-five  thousand  dollars  in  property. 
I  am  desirous  to  spend  the  balance  of  my  life  as  a 
minister,  if  the  Lord  permits,  and  therefore  offer  for  sale 
my  farm,  the  Vineyard,  adjoining  to  Williams- 
burg  *  *  *  and  also  about  40  servants,  mostly  young 
and  likely,  and  rapidly  increasing  in  number  and 
value. ' ' 

Effect  on  Slave  Owners. — While  the  slave  owner 
may  have  been  hospitable,  courteous,  grave,  the  char- 
acter of  a  true  gentleman  cannot  be  found  where 
reigns  domestic  despotism,  amidst  whips,  manacles 
and  bloodhounds.  The  minds  of  young  men  were 
tainted  by  familiarity  with  slaves.  With  slavery 
always  goes  lust.  If,  as  the  advocates  of  slavery  con- 
tended, the  Negro  was  not  a  man,  what  were  all  these 
half-breeds  to  be  called.  The  tendency  of  slavery  in 
that  which  is  not  elevating  in  man  is  clearly  seen  in 
the  inferiority  of  Southern  to  Northern  life.  Culture, 
invention,  literature,  scientific  research,  were  not  found 
South  as  long  as  slavery  existed.  It  is  only  since  slav- 
ery has  been  abolished  that  the  South  is  beginning  to 
rise  in  all  these  lines. 

Not  Content  in  Slavery.— The  argument  against  the 
Negro  is  that  he  has  never  rebelled  or  resisted  slavery, 
that  his  docility  and  contentment  in  slavery  suggested 
that  this  was  this  normal  condition.  But  we  need 
understand  the  true  condition  of  the  Negro,  his  help- 
lessness and  lack  of  leadership,  to  see  the  falsity  of 
such  arguments.  Negro  insurrections,  wherever  the 


SLAVERY.  47 

opportunity  presented  itself,  were  not  wanting  in  the 
south  land.  We  need  but  refer  to  what  is  called  the 
Nat  Turner  insurrection  to  show  that  the  Negro  was 
struggling  for  freedom,  and  was  not  as  docile  as  the 
white  slaver  would  make  him. 

The  influence  of  this  bloody  insurrection  in  which 
the  lives  of  so  many  whites  were  taken  spread  through- 
out Virginia  and  the  South.  For  years  afterwards  they 
lived  in  a  state  of  dread  for  fear  another  Nat  Turner 
might  arise. 

Serious  Apprehensions.— "Talks  from  the  Times" 
says:  "During  the  days  of  slavery  there  were  con- 
tinuous and  serious  apprehensions  on  the  part  of  mas- 
ters. The  whole  South  was  under  patrol  every  night, 
and  the  Negro,  though  regarded  then,  as  many  seem  to 
regard  him  now,  as  a  harmless,  spiritless  being,  a 
'scrub  race,' a 'race  of  timid  rabbits,'  was  an  object 
of  suspicion  and  distrust,  and  not  infrequently  was 
consternation  thrown  into  whole  states  by  apprehen- 
sions of  servile  uprisings. ' ' 

Uncle  Tom's  Cabin.— Dr.  Edwards  says:  "The  key 
to  'Uncle  Tom's  Cabin'  is  one  of  the  most  abhorrent 
and  appalling  commentaries  ever  written  'on  African 
slavery.  It  has  made  the  cheek  of  many  a  slave-holder 
tingle.  But  the  legislation  at  that  time  in  Virginia 
was  deemed  a  life  and  death  question  Nothing  short 
of  it,  for  the  time  being,  could  allay  the  painful  and 
distressing  excitement  that  prevailed  everywhere 
throughout  the  country.  It  almost  makes  one's  blood 
run  cold,  even  at  this  remote  period  of  time,  to  recall 
the  trepidation  and  alarm  that  pervaded  the  whole 
community.  The  stoutest  hearts  were  made  to  quail. 

Negro  Insurrection. — Rumors  of  Negro  insurrec- 
tion filled  the  air.  Sleep  ceased  to  be  refreshing, 


48 


PROGRESS  OF  A  RACE. 


haunted  as  it  was  by  hideous  dreams  of  murder,  blood 
and  arson.  Mothers  and  maidens,  and  even  little 
children,  for  months  not  to  say  years,  following  the 
'Nat  Turner  Insurrection.'  looked  pale  and  ghastly  as 
the  shadows  of  evening  gathered  around  them,  from 
the  horrifying  apprehension  that  with  bludgeon  they 
might  be  brained,  or  with  torch  might  be  burned  to  a 
crisp  before  morning.  I  speak  from  experience.  Nor 
would  I  go  through  the  agony  of  those  years  again  for 
all  the  gold  that  ever  passed  hands  in  the  Negro  traffic 
from  Colonial  times  till  President  Lincoln  emancipated 
them  with  a  stroke  of  his  pen.  Pharaoh  and  his  peo- 
ple, under  the  visit  of  the  destroying  angel,  when  the 
first-born  was  convulsively  quivering  in  the  death 
struggle  in  every  household,  did  not  more  earnestly 
desire  the  quick  departure  of  the  Hebrews  out  of  the 
land  of  Egypt  than  did  the  great  majority  of  the  slave 
holders  in  the  Carolinas  and  Virginias  desire  the 
removal  of  the  Negroes  from  among  them  immediately 
after  the  Southampton  Insurrection. ' ' 

Restriction  of  Slavery. — The  African  trade  having 
been  abolished,  the  next  question  that  agitated  the 
mind  of  the  American  abolitionist  was  that  of  restrict- 
ing slavery;  while  the  North  would  restrict  it  to  its 
present  limits,  the  South  insisted  that  slavery  should 
be  permitted  to  be  carried  into  the  new  territory  and 
states  as  they  entered  the  Union.  The  Congressional 
discussion  of  the  slavery  question  aroused  the  anti- 
slavery  sentiment  of  the  North,  and  thereby  hastened 
the  day  when  it  was  possible  to  liberate  the  last  slave. 

Slavery  in  the  Colonies. — Slavery  was  early  intro- 
duced into  all  of  the  thirteen  original  colonies.  But 
climate  and  other  considerations  proved  that  it  was 
not  so  profitable  to  the  Northern  colonies  as  to  those  in 


SLAVERY.  40 

the  South.  After  some  years  the  Northern  colonies 
liberated  their  slaves  and  adopted  laws  against  slavery. 
While  in  the  South,  the  large  rice  and  cotton  fields, 
where  labor  was  in  demand,  the  slave  was  held  in  cruel 
bondage,  for  no  other  reason  than  that  of  the  profit 
that  it  might  bring  the  owner. 

The  Southern  Colonists. — The  Southern  colonists 
differed  widely  from  the  Northern  in  habits  and  style 
of  living.  In  place  of  thickly  settled  towns  and  vil- 
lages, they  had  large  plantations,  and  were  surrounded 
by  a  numerous  hotisehold  of  servants.  The  Negro 
quarters  formed  a  hamlet  apart,  with  its  gardens  and 
poultry  yards.  An  estate  in  those  days  was  a  little 
empire.  The  planter  had  among  his  slaves  men  of 
every  trade,  and  they  made  most  of  the  articles  needed 
for  common  use  upon  the  plantation.  There  were 
large  sheds  for  cutting  tobacco,  and  mills  for  grinding 
corn  and  wheat.  The  tobacco  was  put  up  and  con- 
signed directly  to  England.  The  flour  of  the  Mount 
Vernon  estate  was  packed  under  the  eye  of  Washington 
himself,  and  we  are  told  that  barrels  of  flour  bearing 
his  brand  passed  in  the  West  Indies  market  without 
inspection. 

Maryland  and  Delaware. — While  the  North  liber- 
ated the  slave,  the  Quakers  of  Maryland  and  Delaware 
were  rapidly  emancipating  theirs.  Men  felt  that  the 
best  interests  of  white  society  demanded  that  the  curse 
of  slavery  should  be  abolished.  * '  The  whole  commerce 
between  master  and  slave,"  says  Mr.  Jefferson,  "is  a 
perpetual  exercising  of  the  most  boisterous  passions, 
our  children  see  this  and  learn  to  imitate  it.  If  a 
parent  could  find  no  other  motive  for  restraining  the 
temper  of  passion  against  his  slave  it  should  always  be 
a  sufficient  one  that  his  child  is  present.  The  man 

(4  Progr»s«. 


50  PROGRESS   OF  A   RACE. 

must  be  a  prodigy  that  can  retain  his  morals  and  man- 
ners  tmdepraved  by  such  circumstances,  and  what  exe- 
cration should  come  upon  the  statesman  who  permits 
half  the  citizens  thus  to  trample  on  the  rights  of  others, 
transform  them  into  despots,  and  these  into  enemies, 
destroy  the  morals  of  one,  and  the  love  of  country  of 
the  other." 

It  was  often  difficult  to  tell  whether  the  slave  or  the 
master  was  injured  the  more,  the  ignorance  of  the 
slave  hid  from  him  the  great  evils  of  his  condition, 
while  the  intelligence  of  the  owner  revealed  the  bane- 
ful effects  of  slavery  upon  all  who  came  within  its  area. 
It  made  men  sectional,  licentious,  profligate,  cruel, 
and  selfishness  paled  the  holy  fire  of  patriotism. 

Profitable  in  Maryland. — In  Maryland  the  slave 
trade  became  a  profitable  enterprise  on  account  of  its 
rich  soil  and  cultivation  of  tobacco.  Labor  was  scarce, 
and  the  Negro  slave  labor  could  be  made  as  cheap  as 
his  master's  conscience  and  heart  were  small.  Slavery 
gained  a  foothold  and  at  once  became  the  bone  and 
sinew  of  the  working  force  of  the  colony.  While  many 
attempted  to  persuade  themselves  that  slavery  was  an 
institution  indispensable  to  the  success  of  the  colony 
here,  as  elsewhere,  it  was  impossible  to  escape  the  bad 
results  of  the  trade  which  made  men  cruel  and 
avaricious. 

Virginia. — There  is  no  doubt  that  the  colony  of 
Virginia  purchased  the  first  Negroes,  and  thus  opened 
the  nefarious  traffic  in  human  flesh. 

It  may,  however,  be  stated,  that  the  first  twenty 
were  forced  upon  the  colony  by  the  Dutch  sailors  who 
were  famishing  and  insisted  upon  the  exchange  of 
Negroes  for  food. 

It  is  to  be  noted  that  even  after  the  institution  of 


SLAVERY.  51 

slavery  was  founded,  its  growth  was  very  slow  in  Vir- 
ginia; according  to  the  census  of  1624,  there  were  but 
twenty-two  in  the  entire  colony.  The  African  slave 
trader  was  some  time  in  learning  that  this  colony  was 
a  ready  market  for  his  helpless  victims.  Whatever 
compunction  of  conscience  the  colonists  had  in  refer- 
ence to  the  sub-dealing  in  slaves,  this  was  destroyed 
at  the  golden  hopes  of  immense  gains. 

Slavery  existed  in  this  colony  from  1619  until  1662, 
without  any  sanction  of  law,  but  in  a  later  year  slavery 
received  the  direct  sanction  of  statutory  law,  and  it 
was  also  made  hereditary ;  with  each  returning  year, 
this  cruel  inhuman  institution  flourished  and  mag- 
nified. 

While  in  some  colonies  efforts  were  made  to  put 
down  slavery  from  1619  to  1775,  there  is  nothing  in 
history  to  show  that  Virginia  ever  sought  to  prohibit 
in  any  manner  the  importation  of  slaves.  That  she 
enriched  herself  by  the  slave  trade  cannot  be  doubted. 

The  slave  had  no  personal  rank ;  if  he  dared  lift  up  a 
hand  against  any  white  man  he  was  punished  with 
lashes,  or  if  he  resisted  his  master  he  could  be  killed. 

Virginia,  the  mother  of  Presidents,  was  also  the 
mother  of  American  slavery.  In  the  absence  of  the 
slave  trade  which  Great  Britain  had  suffered,  the  de- 
mand for  more  Negroes  in  the  cotton  fields  of  the  South 
was  met  by  the  conversion  of  Virginia,  the  old  Dominion 
state,  into  a  breeding  state,  a  shameful,  degrading  end 
for  the  mother  of  Presidents. 

New  York. — An  urgent  and  extraordinary  demand 
for  labor,  rather  than  the  cruel  desire  to  traffic  in 
human  beings,  led  the  Dutch  to  engage  in  Negro  slave 
trade.  The  majority  of  them  were  employd  on  farms, 
and  led  quiet  and  sober  lives.  At  first  the  Negro  slave 


52  PROGRESS  OF  A  RACE. 

was  regarded  as  a  cheap  laborer,  but  after  a  time  he 
became  a  coveted  chattel.  It  is  stated  that  Queen 
Elizabeth  discouraged  slavery  and  at  one  time 
attempted  to  rebuke  a  slave  dealer,  but  soon  after  was 
found  encouraging  the  slave  trade.  The  condition  of 
the  slaves  in  the  Christian  colony  of  New  York  was  no 
better  than  in  many  other  colonies,  they  had  no  family 
relations,  for  a  long  time  lived  together  by  common 
consent,  had  no  schools,  neglected  in  life,  and  were 
abandoned  to  burial  in  a  common  ditch  after  death. 

The  Negro  Plot. — In  1741,  through  a  combination  of 
circumstances,  the  Negroes  of  New  York  were  accused 
of  plotting  against  the  whites,  and  in  less  than  three 
months  more  than  150  Negroes  were  put  into  prison, 
some  of  them  burned  at  the  stake,  others  hanged,  some 
transported,  and  the  remainder  pardoned.  The  hatred 
and  mistrust  of  the  Negro  was  the  occasion  of  much  of 
this  supposed  riot.  Without  evidence,  and  with  the 
mere  form  of  a  trial,  many  Negroes  were  convicted 
and  sentenced  to  death.  The  result  of  the  supposed 
Negro  plot  in  New  York  is  a  stain  upon  the  fair  name 
of  that  province.  It  is  stated  that  the  desperate  valor 
of  the  Negro  in  the  war  with  Great  Britain  gave  her 
an  opportunity  to  dispell  injustice  and  wipe  out  with 
his  blood  the  dark  stains  of  1841. 

Rhode  Island. — The  institution  of  slavery  was  never 
established  by  statute  in  this  colony,  but  in  a  few  years 
after  the  establishment  of  the  government  it  became 
so  fully  rooted  that  it  was  not  possible  to  destroy  it 
without  explicit  and  positive  prohibition  of  law. 

Demand  for  Ignorance. — The  education  of  the  Negro 
in  all  colonies  was  considered  to  be  a  step  against  the 
best  interests  of  their  masters.  The  flourishing  of  the 


SLAVERY.  53 

slave  trade  demanded  that  the  slave  be  kept  in 
ignorance. 

New  Jersey. — It  is  not  known  when  slavery  was 
introduced  into  New  Jersey,  but  early  in  its  history  the 
Dutch,  Quakers  and  the  English  held  slaves,  but  were 
more  humane  in  their  treatment  of  them  than  in  the 
other  colonies.  Legislation  on  the  subject  was  not 
undertaken  until  about  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth 
century,  and  at  no  time  did  it  reach  the  severity  that 
exhibited  itself  in  the  other  parts  of  the  country.  In 
this  colony  alone,  of  all  the  colonies  north  or  south, 
was  the  American  Negro  given  the  right  of  trial  by 
jury.  In  Virginia,  Maryland,  Massachusetts  and  in 
all  other  colonies,  the  Negro  went  into  the  court  con- 
victed, and  went  out  convicted,  he  was  executed  on 
the  flimsiest  evidence  imaginable,  but  be  it  said 
to  the  praise  of  New  Jersey  that  justice  was  shown 
towards  the  Negro  in  this  colony  as  in  no  other.  The 
Negro  slave  was  given  the  privilege  of  being  tried 
by  jury  and  permitted  to  be  sworn  in  the  courts. 

South  Carolina. — In  South  Carolina  the  inhumanities 
of  the  slave  trade  reached  its  height.  The  entire  slave 
population  of  this  province  was  regarded  as  a  chattel. 
Rice  fields  of  this  state  demanded  labor  and  the 
increase  of  the  slave  was  almost  phenomenal.  The 
laws  were  not  surpassed  in  stringency  by  any  other 
celony,  and  it  was  unlawful  for  any  free  person  to 
inhabit  or  trade  with  Negroes.  The  cruelties  of  the 
code  are  without  parallel. 

Goldwin  Smith  says:  "In  the  upshot  she  became 
the  typical  slave  state,  the  heart  of  slavery  and  the 
focus  of  all  the  ideas  and  all  the  ambitions  connected 
with  the  system ;  while  Charleston,  her  social  capital 
and  seaport,  became  the  paradise  of  planter  society 


54  PROGRESS   OF   A  RACE. 

with  its  luxury  and  pride.  Her  slave  code  transcended 
even  that  of  Virginia  in  cruelty  and  expressed  still 
more  vividly  the  terrors  of  a  dominant  race.  Every  one 
who  found  a  slave  abroad  without  a  pass  was  to  flog 
him  on  the  spot.  All  Negro  houses  were  to  be  searched 
once  a  fortnight  for  arms  and  for  stolen  goods.  For 
the  fourth  larceny  a  slave  was  to  suffer  death,  and  the 
kind  of  death  was  left  to  the  discretion  of  the  judge. 
For  running  away  a  fourth  time  a  slave  was  to  undergo 
mutilation.  For  punishing  a  slave  so  that  he  died  no 
one  was  to  suffer  any  penalty.  For  the  wilful  murder 
of  a  slave  the  penalty  was  a  fine  of  forty  pounds. 
It  need  not  be  supposed  that  the  most  revolting  articles 
of  the  code  were  often  put  in  force,  or  that  they  repre- 
sent the  general  relations  between  master  and  slave. ' ' 

North  Carolina. — In  this  colony  there  was  but  little 
improvement  on  the  condition  of  the  slave  in  South 
Carolina.  If  any  Negro  showed  the  least  independence 
with  white  men  he  could  be  murdered  in  cold  blood. 
The  free  Negro  population  was  small  and  were  not 
allowed  any  communion  with  the  slaves;  here,  as  else- 
where, the  slave  was  left  in  a  state  of  ignorance  in 
order  to  further  the  interests  of  his  master. 

New  Hampshire. — Early  in  the  history  of  New 
Hampshire  slavery  was  considered  by  the  authorities 
as  a  wicked,  hateful  institution.  The  colony  never 
passed  any  laws  establishing  slavery,  but  as  early  as 
1714  passed  several  laws  regarding  the  conduct  and 
service  of  the  slaves.  In  New  Hampshire  there  were 
slaves  up  to  the  beginning  of  the  war  of  the  Revolu- 
tion, but  they  were  slaves  in  name  only. 

Massachusetts. — In  Massachusetts,  as  well  as  in 
some  other  colonies,  slavery  was  first  introduced  into 
individual  families  and  afterwards  into  communities 


SLAVERY.  55 

where,  without  the  sanction  of  the  law,  usage  and  cus- 
tom made  it  legal.  Finally,  men  desiring  to  enjoy  the 
field  of  unrequiting  labor  gave  it  the  sanction  of  stat- 
utory law. 

Pennsylvania. — Since  the  habit  of  enslaving  the 
Negro  spread  through  the  colonies  north  and  south, 
Pennsylvania,  even,  tolerated  slaves  within  her  borders. 
It  is  said  that  William  Penn  himself  once  owned  slaves. 
Efforts  were  made  in  early  years  to  pass  laws  emanci- 
pating slaves,  but  the  mother  country  would  not  per- 
mit such  laws  at  that  time. 

Slave -Breeding  States. — After  the  establishing  of 
our  republic,  Maryland,  Virginia,  Kentucky  and  Mis- 
souri were  the  border  states  of  slavery.  North  of  these 
the  slave  was  free,  and  even  in  these  states  slavery 
was  found  to  be  an  unprofitable  business  as  far  as  labor 
was  concerned.  We  may  well  then  ask,  "Why  was  not 
slavery  abolished  in  these  states?"  For  the  simple 
reason  that  it  was  found  that  since  the  African  slave 
trade  was  abolished  the  South  needed  an  increasing 
number  of  slaves  for  the  great  plantations.  Here  was 
found  a  profitable  business,  and  these  states  became 
breeding  states  for  the  propagation  of  the  race,  increas- 
ing the  number  so  as  to  flood  the  markets  of  the  South. 
One  of  the  largest  exports  of  these  states  was  slaves. 
It  was  estimated  that  in  1836  the  number  sold  from  the 
single  state  of  Virginia  was  40,000,  yielding  a  return 
of  twenty -four  million  dollars.  This  business,  horrible 
as  it  seems  in  our  day,  was  licensed  and  protected  by 
law,  advertised  in  papers,  and  recognized  as  one  of  the 
branches  of  legitimate  production  of  trade. 

Not  Universally  Countenanced.— It  must  not  be 
supposed  that  this  trade  was  countenanced  by  all  in  the 
South,  even  there,  there  were  men  who  denounced  in 


SLAVERY.  57 

strong  and  vehement  language  the  barbarous  custom  of 
separating  man  and  wife,  mother  and  child,  scattering 
families  never  to  meet  again  until  at  the  great  cL.y 
they  meet  their  inhuman  masters  as  common  accusers. 
The  pathetic  scenes  that  presented  themselves  to  the 
better  element  in  the  South  brought  words  of  condem- 
nation against  the  remorseless  traffic  that  presented 
scenes  along  the  streets  and  highways  where  crowds  of 
suffering  victims  whose  *  *  Miserable  condition  was  sec- 
ond only  to  the  wretched  borders  of  Hell, ' '  were  made 
the  victims  of  man's  greed  and  gain. 

Border  States. — The  states  bordering  on  the  slave 
states,  while  not  permitting  slavery  within  their  bor- 
ders, yet  passed  what  were  called  "Black  Laws," 
which  left  the  free  Negro  but  little  better  off  in  Ohio, 
Indiana  and  Illinois  than  in  the  Southern  states.  Black 
or  mulatto  persons  were  not  allowed  to  reside  in  the 
state  without  having  a  certificate  of  freedom.  Later, 
amended  laws  in  Ohio  required  that  a  bond  be  given 
not  to  become  a  charge  upon  the  county  in  which  they 
settled.  They  were  not  permitted  to  give  evidence  in 
any  court  of  record  or  elsewhere  in  the  state  against  a 
white  person.  Severe  penalties  were  inflicted  on  all 
who  harbored  such  as  had  not  given  bonds.  Thus, 
being  denied  the  right  of  citizenship,  ruled  out  of  courts, 
compelled  to  produce  a  certificate  of  freedom,  and  in 
many  other  ways  annoyed  by  laws  limiting  the  rights 
they  were  suffered  to  enjoy,  the  free  Negroes  of  these 
states  were  little  better  than  slaves.  That  they  endured 
patiently  these  restrictions  which  public  sentiment 
threw  across  their  social  and  political  pathway  is  a 
matter  of  record. 

Pensioning  Old  and  Feeble  Slaves. — This  question 
has  been  discussed  and  urged  upon  our  government 


58 


SLAVERY.  59 

repeatedly,  but  no  definite  action  has  been  taken. 
While  race  prejudice  is  rapidly  disappearing,  it  may 
be  safe  to  say  that  before  a  sentiment  can  be  obtained 
that  will  enact  laws  favorable  to  pensioning  old  and 
feeble  slaves  by  congress  or  by  any  state  legislature, 
every  ex-slave  will  have  passed  into  that  life  where  he 
receives  the  recompense  of  reward  for  all  his  deeds,  and 
where  he  is  beyond  the  reach  of  the  inhumanities  of 
the  slave  master  and  needs  no  pension. 

Added  Items. — The  emancipation  of  slaves  in  all  the 
French  colonies  took  place  February  4,  1794. 

The  complete  emancipation  of  slaves  in  the  English 
colonies  occurred  in  1838  to  1839,  when  more  than 
800,000  men,  besides  women  and  children,  were  lib- 
erated. 

Sweden  emancipated  her  slaves  in  1846,  and  this  was 
soon  followed  (in  1848)  by  the  Danish  colonies  pro- 
claiming the  freedom  of  her  slaves. 

Holland  delivered  her  American  colonies  from  slav- 
ery August  8,  1862. 

The  African  slave  trade  was  closed  in  this  country 
on  the  first  day  of  January,  1862. 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE  NEGRO  IN  THE  REVOLUTION. 

Slave  Population.— In  1715  the  slave  population 
was  about  60,000,  but  England's  policy  of  crowding  her 
American  plantations  with  slaves  increased  the  num- 
ber rapidly,  so  that  sixty  years  after,  when  the  revolu- 
tionary war  began,  the  slave  population  of  the  thirteen 
colonies  was  about  500,000;  50,000  of  these  were  found 
in  the  North. 

The  desire  to  gain  liberty  with  such  a  host  of  beings 
was  not  to  be  despised,  and  both  sides  contended  for 
their  services. 

A  Great  Mistake. — If  the  colonists  had  at  once  will- 
ingly enlisted  the  Negro  in  the  cause  of  liberty  it  can 
hardly  be  doubted  that  the  struggle  of  eight  years 
would  have  been  shortened  greatly,  but  in  this  case,  as 
in  many  other  instances,  their  enemy,  the  mothe  r  coun- 
try, succeeded  in  using  the  slaves  to  a  much  greater 
extent  than  the  colonists.  Jefferson  says:  " That  30,- 
ooo  Negroes  from  Virginia  alone  went  to  the  British 
army. ' '  Had  the  colonies  permitted  the  Negro  to  enlist, 
and  had  the  Negro  been  urged  from  the  first  to  stand 
for  the  cause  of  liberty,  much  bloodshed  might  have 
been  avoided.  The  selfishness  of  the  colonists,  espe- 
cially in  the  South  where  the  opposition  to  the  arming 
of  the  Negro  was  much  stronger  than  the  love  for  inde- 
pendence, asserted  itself  to  such  a  degree  that  any 
effort  to  enlist  the  Negro  in  that  section  seemed  useless. 

The  First  Blood  for  Liberty  shed  in  the  colonies 
was  that  of  a  real  slave  and  Negro.  On  the  5th  day  of 
March,  1770,  occurred  the  Boston  massacre,  which, 

61 


C2  PROGRESS    OF  A   RACE. 

although  not  opening  the  real  struggle,  yet  was  the 
bloody  drama  that  opened  the  most  eventful  and  thrill- 
ing chapter  in  American  history. 

Crispus  Attucks,  a  runaway  slave,  at  the  head  of  a 
crowd  of  citizens  resolved  that  the  conduct  of  the 
British  soldiers  who  marched  through  Boston  as 
through  a  conquered  city  could  no  longer  be  endured, 
and  led  the  charge  against  the  British  with  the  cry: 
"The  way  to  get  rid  of  these  soldiers  is  to  attack  the 
main  guard.  Strike  at  the  root,  this  is  the  nest." 
The  troops  were  ordered  to  fire,  the  exposed  and  com- 
manding person  of  the  fearless  Attucks  went  down 
first.  Three  others  fell  in  the  same  attack,  Caldwell, 
Gray  and  Maverick.  This  aroused  the  people  of  Bos- 
ton. The  burial  of  these  four  men  from  Faneuil  Hall 
was  attended  by  a  large  and  respectable  concourse  of 
people. 

"Long  as  in  freedom's  cause  the  wise  contend, 
Dear  to  your  country  shall  your  fame  extend; 
While  to  the  world  the  lettered  stone  shall  tell 
Where  Caldwell,  Attucks,  Gray  and  Maverick  fell. ' 
The  following  notice  appeared  in  the  Boston  Gazette 
twenty  years  before  when  Attucks  ran  away  from  his 
master : 

"Ran  away  from  his  master,  William  Brown,  of 
Framingham,  on  the  2oth  of  Sept.  last,  a  Mullato  Fel- 
low, about  27  years  of  age,  named  Crispus,  6  feet  2 
inches  high,  short  curl' d  hair,  his  knees  nearer  together 
than  common ;  had  on  a  light  colored  Bearskin  Coat, 
plain  brown  Fustian  Jacket,  or  brown  All  Wool  one, 
new  Buckskin  breeches,  blue  Yarn  Stockings,  and  a 
checked  woolen  shirt.  Whoever  shall  take  up  said 
runaway,  and  convey  him  to  his  abovesaid  master, 
shall  have  ten  pounds,  old  Tenor  Reward,  and  all 


THE   NEGRO   IN  THE   REVOLUTION.  03 

necessary  charges  paid.  And  all  Masters  of  Vessels 
and  others  are  hereby  cautioned  against  concealing  or 
carrying  off  said  Servant  on  Penalty  of  the  Law.  Bos- 
ton, October  2,  1750." 

Hero  and  Martyr, — Attucks  cut  the  cord  and  knot 
that  held  us  to  Great  Britain.  "From  that  moment," 
says  Webster,  "we  may  date  the  severance  of  the 
Pritish  Empire."  It  touched  the  people  of  the  col- 
onies as  they  had  never  been  touched  before.  Orators 
poured  out  upon  this  former  slave,  now  a  hero  and 
martyr,  their  unstinted  praise.  At  each  succeeding 
anniversary  of  this  eventful  day  Crispus  Attucks 
and  his  noble  companions  were  lauded  until  our  Na- 
tional Independence  was  achieved,  when  the  4th  of 
July  was  substituted. 

Committee  of  Safety. — A  committee  of  safety  was 
early  appointed  after  the  beginning  of  the  war,  and 
according  to  its  decision  no  slaves  were  to  be  admitted 
into  the  army  under  any  consideration  whatever.  Some 
free  men  had  already  enlisted.  Peter  Salem  was  a 
slave  who  fought  side  by  side  in  the  ranks  with  white 
soldiers.  It  was  he  who,  on  that  memorable  occa- 
sion at  Bunker  Hill  when  Major  Pitcairn,  at  the 
head  of  the  British  army  made  an  attack  upon  the 
American  forces,  shouting,  "The  day  is  ours," 
poured  the  contents  of  his  gun  into  that  officer's  body 
killing  him  instantly,  and  checking  temporarily  the 
advance  of  the  British. 

Of  this  occasion  Mr.  Aaron  White,  of  the  Massa- 
chusetts Historical  Society,  writes: 

"  With  regard  to  the  black  hero  of  Bunker  Hill, 
I  never  knew  him  personally  nor  did  I  ever  hear  from 
his  lips  the  story  of  his  achievements;  but  I  have 
better  authority.  A  soldier  of  the  Revolution,  who 


64  PROGRESS  OF  A  RACE. 

was  present  at  the  Bunker  Hill  battle,  related  to  my 
father  the  story  of  the  death  of  Major  Pitcairn.  At 
the  moment  when  the  major  appeared,  startling  the 
men  before  him,  a  Negro  stepped  forward,  and,  aim- 
ing his  musket  at  the  major's  bosom,  blew  him  through. 
I  have  frequently  heard  my  father  relate  the  story  and 
have  no  doubt  of  its  truth.  Salem  was  not  the  only 
Negro  at  the  battle  of  Bunker  Hill.  Others  whose 
bravery  has  not  been  recorded  participated  in  the  bat- 
tle, showing  valor  and  fidelity. ' ' 

Major  Lawrence,  who  fought  through  the  war  from 
Concord  to  the  peace  of  1783,  and  who  participated  in 
many  of  the  severest  battles,  at  one  time  commanded 
a  company  of  Negroes  whose  courage,  military  disci- 
pline and  fidelity  he  spoke  of  with  respect.  On  one 
occasion,  being  out  reconnoitering  with  his  company, 
he  got  so  far  in  advance  of  his  command  that  he  was 
surrounded  and  on  the  point  of  being  made  a  prisoner 
by  the  enemy.  The  colored  men,  soon  discovering 
his  peril,  rushed  to  his  rescue  and  fought  with  the 
most  determined  bravery  till  that  rescue  was  effect- 
ually secured.  He  never  forgot  this  circumstance, 
and  ever  after  took  special  pains  to  show  kindness 
and  hospitality  to  any  individual  of  the  colored  race 
who  came  near  his  dwelling. 

Freeing  the  Slave. — After  the  committee  of  safety 
had  excluded  slaves  from  the  army  many  of  them 
were  freed  by  their  masters  on  condition  that  they 
join  the  army.  But  the  prejudice  against  the  Negro 
asserted  itself  more  and  more  until  the  legislative 
bodies  took  action  and  entirely  prevented  Negroes 
from  enlisting. 

Colonial  Congress. — Edward  Rutledge,  of  South 
Carolina,  moved  that  all  Negroes  be  discharged  that 


±HE  NEGRO  IN  tHE  REVOLUTION.         65 

were  in  the  army.  This  proposition  was  strongly 
supported  by  the  Southern  delegates,  but  the  North- 
ern delegates  succeeded  in  voting  it  down.  The  con- 
test, however,  continued  until  a  conference  committee 
was  called  at  Cambridge,  at  which  it  was  agreed  that 
the  Negro  should  be  rejected  altogether. 

Reorganization. — In  the  reorganization  of  the  army 
many  officers  who  had  served  with  Negroes  in  the 
militia,  and  who  had  been  enlisted  in  the  Colonial 
army,  protested  against  the  exclusion  of  their  old 
comrades  on  account  of  color.  Washington  saw  what 
might  be  the  result  if  they  were  not  permitted  to 
enlist,  and  gave  his  consent  to  the  enlistment  with  this 
proviso — "If  this  is  disapproved  by  Congress  I  will  put 
a  stop  to  it. ' '  It  could  be  clearly  seen  that  if  a  Negro 
was  not  permitted  in  the  army  the  British  would  gain 
the  advantage  over  the  Colonial  forces,  and  no  one 
could  predict  what  the  Negro  might  do.  Congress 
reluctantly  receded  from  its  position  and  granted  per- 
mission to  enroll  Negroes  under  certain  conditions. 

Lord  Dunmore,  who  had  charge  of  the  British  forces 
in  the  South,  proclaimed  freedom  to  all  the  slaves  who 
would  repair  to  his  standard  and  bear  arms  to  the 
king.  The  flocking  of  slaves  to  the  British  standard 
greatly  alarmed  the  Colonial  forces  and  caused  them 
to  utilize  the  Negro  forces,  but  in  this  the  British  had 
already  preceded  them. 

The  Negro  Prince. — It  is  impossible  to  recite  all  in- 
cidents and  circumstances  showing  the  heroism  and 
bravery  on  the  part  of  the  Negro  in  this  war,  but  a 
few  stand  out  more  prominently  than  others.  Of 
these  one  is  the  Negro  Prince,  in  Colonel  Barton's 
command,  who  succeeded  in  capturing  General  Prcs 

5  Progress. 


66  PROGRESS  OF  A  RACE. 

cott  in  bed.     The  daring  part  that  this  negro  took 
is  shown  in  the  following: 

"  The  pleasing  information  is  received  here  that 
Lieutenant- Colonel  Barton,  of  the  Rhode  Island  mi- 
litia, planned  a  bold  exploit  for  the  purpose  of  sur- 
prising and  taking  Major-General  Prescott,  the  com- 
manding officer  of  the  royal  army,  at  Newport.  Taking 
with  him,  in  the  night,  about  forty  men,  in  two  boats, 
with  oars  muffled,  he  had  the  address  to  elude  the 
vigilance  of  the  ships- of -war  and  guard  boats,  and, 
having  arrived  undiscovered  at  the  quarters  of  Gen- 
eral Prescott,  they  were  taken  for  the  sentinels ;  and 
the  general  was  not  alarmed  till  the  captors  were  at 
the  door  of  his  lodging  chamber,  which  was  fast  closed. 
A  Negro  man  named  Prince,  instantly  thrust  his  beetle 
head  through  the  panel  door  and  seized  his  victim 
while  in  bed.  This  event  is  extremely  honorable  to 
the  enterprising  spirit  of  Colonel  Barton,  and  is  con- 
sidered an  ample  retaliation  for  the  capture  of  General 
Lee  by  Colonel  Harcourt.  The  event  occasions  great 
joy  and  exultation,  as  it  puts  in  our  possession  an 
officer  of  equal  rank  with  General  Lee,  by  which 
means  an  exchange  may  be  obtained.  Congress  re- 
solved that  an  elegant  sword  should  be  presented  to 
Colonel  Barton  for  his  brave  exploit. ' ' 

Major  Jeffrey. — Among  the  brave  blacks  who  fought 
in  the  battles  for  American  liberty  was  Major  Jeffrey, 
a  Tennesseean,  who,  during  the  campaign  of  Major- 
General  Andrew  Jackson,  in  Mobile,  filled  the  place  of 
"  regular  "  among  the  soldiers.  In  the  charge  made 
by  General  Stump  against  the  enemy  the  Americans 
were  repulsed  and  thrown  into  disorder,  Major  Stump 
being  forced  to  retire  in  a  manner  by  no  means  desir- 
able under  the  circumstances.  Major  Jeffrey,  who 


THE  NEGRO  IN  THE  REVOLUTION.          67 

was  but  a  common  soldier,  seeing  the  condition  of  his 
comrades  and  comprehending  the  disastrous  results 
about  to  befall  them,  rushed  forward,  mounted  a  horse, 
took  command  of  the  troops,  and  by  an  heroic  effort 
rallied  them  to  the  charge,  completely  routing  the 
enemy  who  left  the  Americans  masters  of  the  field. 
He  at  once  received  from  the  general  the  title  of 
"major,"  though  he  could  not,  according  to  the  Amer- 
ican policy,  so  commission  him.  To  the  day  of  his 
death  he  was  known  by  that  title  in  Nashville,  where 
he  resided,  and  the  circumstances  which  entitled  him 
to  it  were  constantly  the  subject  of  popular  conver- 
sation. 

Major  Jeffrey  was  highly  respected  by  the  whites 
generally,  and  revered  in  his  own  neighborhood  by 
all  the  colored  people  who  knew  him. 

A  few  years  ago,  receiving  an  indignity  from  a 
common  ruffian,  he  was  forced  to  strike  him  in  self 
defense,  for  which  act,  in  accordance  with  the  laws 
of  slavery  in  that  as  well  as  many  other  of  the  slave 
states,  he  was  compelled  to  receive  on  his  naked  per- 
son, nine  and  thirty  lashes  with  a  rawhide !  This,  at 
the  age  of  seventy-odd,  after  the  distinguished  services 
rendered  his  country,  probably  when  the  white  ruffian 
by  whom  he  was  tortured  was  unable  to  raise  an  arm 
in  self  defense,  was  more  than  he  could  bear ;  it  broke 
his  heart,  and  he  sank  to  rise  no  more,  till  summoned 
by  the  blast  of  the  last  trumpet,  to  stand  on  the  bat- 
tlefield of  the  general  resurrection. 

Re-enslavement. — Many  Negroes  were  induced  to 
enlist  in  the  Colonial  army  with  the  understanding 
that  they  were  to  have  their  freedom  at  the  close  of 
the  war.  But  the  re-enslaving  of  the  Negro  who 
fought  for  American  independence  by  stay-at-homes 


68  PROGRESS   OF  A  RACE. 

was  a  flagrant  outrage.  In  the  legislatures  of  some 
states  they  passed  acts  rebuking  the  injustice  of  such 
treatment. 

The  Legislature  of  Virginia  ordered  that  persons 
in  the  states  who  caused  the  slaves  to  enlist  as  free 
persons  could  not  thereafter  force  them  to  return  to  a 
state  of  servitude,  so  contradictory  to  that  principle 
of  justice  and  their  own  solemn  vows.  Every  slave 
who  had  enlisted  in  any  regiment,  and  who  had  been 
received  as  a  substitute  for  any  free  person  whose 
duty  it  was  to  serve  in  a  regiment,  was  held  and 
deemed  free  in  as  full  and  ample  a  manner  as  if  each 
one  who  came  had  been  especially  named  in  the  act. 

Simon  Lee.— Simon  Lee,  grandfather  of  Wm.  Wells 
Brown,  was  a  slave  in  Virginia  and  served  in  the  war 
of  the  Revolution.  Although  honorably  discharged 
with  the  other  troops  at  the  close  of  the  war  he  was 
sent  back  to  his  master  where  he  spent  the  remainder 
of  his  life  toiling  on  a  tobacco  plantation. 

Massachusetts,  although  having  abolished  slavery 
in  1783,  it  seems  was  still  subjected  to  slave  huntsy 
and  her  Negro  soldiers  were  insulted  by  attempts  to 
re -enslave  them. 

The  British  Army. — Not  only  did  the  soldiers  of 
the  American  army  receive  unjust  treatment  but  the 
British,  who  had  promised  freedom  to  all  who  would 
join  their  ranks,  after  enduring  the  hardships  of  the 
war  often  committed  them  back  to  slavery. 

Mr.  Jefferson  says:  "  From  an  estimate  I  made  at 
that  time,  on  the  best  information  I  could  collect,  I 
supposed  the  state  of  Virginia  lost  under  Lord  Corn- 
wallis'  hand  that  year,  about  thirty  thousand  slaves, 
and  that  of  these  twenty  thousand  died  of  the  small- 
pox and  camp  fever.  The  rest  were  partly  sent  to 


THE   NEGRO   IN   T3E   REVOLUTION.  69 

the  West  Indies  and  exchanged  for  rum,  sugar,  coffee 
and  fruit,  and  partly  sent  to  New  York,  from  whence 
they  went,  at  the  peace,  either  to  Nova  Scotia  or  to 
England.  From  this  place  I  believe  they  have  lately 
been  sent  to  Africa.  History  will  never  relate  the 
horrors  committed  by  the  British  army  in  the  South- 
ern states  of  America. ' ' 

The  Heroism  of  the  Negro. — The  heroism  of  the 
Negro  has  been  eulogized  by  many  of  our  American 
statesmen,  notably  Mr.  Pinckney  and  Mr.  Eustis. 

Mr.  Pinckney  says:  "It  is  a  remarkable  fact  that 
notwithstanding,  in  the  course  of  the  Revolution,  the 
Southern  states  were  continually  overrun  by  the 
British,  and  that  all  Negroes  in  them  had  an  oppor- 
tunity of  leaving  their  owners,  few  did,  proving  there- 
by not  only  a  most  remarkable  attachment  to  their 
owners,  but  the  mildness  of  the  treatment  from  whence 
their  affections  sprang.  They  then  were,  as  they  still 
are,  as  valuable  a  part  of  our  population  to  the  Union 
as  any  other  equal  number  of  inhabitants.  They 
were  in  numerous  instances  the  pioneers,  and  in  all, 
the  laborers  of  your-  armies.  To  their  hands  were 
owing  the  erection  of  the  greatest  part  of  the  forti- 
fications raised  for  the  protection  of  our  country;  some 
of  which,  particularly  Fort  Moultrie,  gave,  at  the 
earlier  period  of  the  inexperience  and  untried  valor 
of  our  citizens,  immortality  to  American  arms.  In 
the  Northern  states  numerous  bodies  of  them  were 
enrolled  into,  and  fought  by  the  side  of  the  whites, 
the  battles  of  the  Revolution. ' ' 

Mr.  Eustis,  of  Massachusetts,  said:  "At  the  com- 
mencement of  the  Revolutionary  war  there  were  found 
in  the  Middle  and  Northern  states  many  blacks  and 
other  people  of  color  capable  of  bearing  arms ;  a  part 


70  PROGRESS    OF   a    RACE. 

of  them  free,  the  greater  part  slaves.  The  freemen 
entered  our  ranks  with  the  whites'  The  time  of  those 
who  were  slaves  was  purchased  by  the  states,  and  they 
were  induced  to  enter  the  service  hi  consequence  of 
a  law  by  which,  on  condition  of  their  serving  in  the 
ranks  during  the  war,  they  were  made  freemen. ' ' 

14  The  war  over  and  peace  restored,  these  men  re- 
turned to  their  respective  states,  and  who  could  have 
said  to  them  on  their  return  to  civil  life  after  having 
shed  their  blood  in  common  with  the  whites  in  the 
defense  of  the  liberties  of  their  country,  You  are  not 
to  participate  in  the  liberty  for  which  you  have  been 
fighting?  Certainly  no  white  man  in  Massachussetts. ' ' 
Rev.  Dr.  Hopkins,  of  Rhode  Island,  said: 
"  God  is  so  ordering  it  in  his  providence  that  it 
seems  absolutely  necessary  something  should  speedily 
be  done  with  respect  to  the  slaves  among  us,  in  order 
to  our  safety  and  to  prevent  their  turning  against  us 
in  our  present  struggle,  in  order  to  get  their  liberty. 
Our  oppressors  have  planned  to  get  the  blacks  and  in- 
duce them  to  take  up  arms  against  us,  by  promising 
them  liberty  on  this  condition,  and  this  plan  they  are 
prosecuting  to  the  utmost  of  their  power,  by  which 
means  they  have  persuaded  numbers  to  join  them. 
And  should  we  attempt  to  restrain  them  by  force 
and  severity,  keeping  a  strict  guard  over  them,  and 
punishing  those  severely  who  shall  be  detected  in  at- 
tempting to  join  our  oppressors,  this  will  only  be  mak- 
ing bad  worse,  and  serve  to  render  our  inconsistence, 
oppression  and  cruelty  more  criminal,  perspicuous  and 
shocking,  and  bring  down  the  righteous  vengeance 
of  Heaven  on  our  heads.  The  only  way  pointed  out 
to  prevent  this  threatening  evil  is  to  set  the  blacks 
at  liberty  ourselves  by  some  public  act  and  laws,  and 


THE  NEGRO  IN  THE  REVOLUTION.          71 

then  give  them  proper  encouragement  to  labor,  or 
take  arms  in  the  defense  of  the  American  cause,  as 
they  shall  choose.  This  would  at  once  be  doing  them 
some  degree  of  justice,  and  defeating  our  enemies  in 
the  scheme  that  they  are  prosecuting, ' ' 

Colonel  Laurens. — No  man  stands  out  more  prom- 
inently in  the  war  of  the  Revolution  than  Colonel 
Laurens.  He  labored  earnestly  for  the  South  to  over- 
come the  prejudices  and  to  raise  colored  regiments. 
Although  supported  by  the  general  government  the 
selfishness  of  the  Southern  slaveholder  frustrated  his 
plans.  In  one  of  his  letters  to  Washington  he  says : 
"The  approaching  session  of  the  Georgia  legislature 
induces  me  to  remain  in  these  quarters  for  the  purpose 
of  taking  new  measures  on  the  subject  of  our  black 
levies.  I  shall,  with  all  the  tenacity  of  a  man,  do 
everything  that  I  can  in  regaining  a  last  effort  on  so 
interesting  an  occasion. ' '  Washington's  reply  Showed 
that  he,  too,  had  lost  faith  in  the  patriotism  of  the 
citizens  of  the  South  to  a  great  degree.  He  said : 

"I  must  confess  that  I  am  not  at  all  astonished  at 
the  failure  of  your  plan.  That  spirit  of  freedom  which, 
at  the  commencement  of  this  contest,  would  have 
gladly  sacrificed  everything  to  the  attainment  of  its 
object  has  long  since  subsided,  and  every  selfish  pas- 
sion has  taken  its  place.  It  is  not  the  public,  but  pri- 
vate interest  which  influences  the  generality  of  man- 
kind, nor  can  the  Americans  any  longer  boast  an 
exception.  Under  these  circumstances  it  would  rather 
have  been  surprising  if  you  had  succeeded ;  nor  will 
you,  I  fear,  have  better  success  in  Georgia." 

Negro  Soldiers. — George  Williams  says  as  soldiers 
the  Negroes  went  far  beyond  the  most  liberal  expec- 
tations of  their  staunchest  friends.  Associated  with 


72  PROGRESS   OF  A  RACE. 

white  men,  many  of  whom  were  superior  gentlemen 
and  nearly  all  of  whom  were  brave  and  enthusiastic, 
the  Negro  soldiers  of  the  American  army  became 
worthy  of  the  cause  they  fought  to  sustain.  Colonel 
Alexander  Hamilton  had  said:  "  Their  natural  facul- 
ties are  as  good  as  ours, ' '  and  the  assertion  was  sup- 
ported by  their  splendid  behavior  on  all  the  battlefields 
of  the  Revolution.  Endowed  by  nature  with  a  poetic 
element,  faithful  to  trusts,  abiding  in  friendship,  bound 
by  the  golden  threads  of  attachment  to  places  and 
persons,  enthusiastic  in  personal  endeavor,  sentimental 
and  chivalric,  they  made  hardy  and  intrepid  soldiers. 
The  daring,  boisterous  enthusiasm  with  which  they 
sprang  to  arms  disarmed  racial  prejudice  of  its  sting 
and  made  friends  of  foes. 

Their  cheerfulness  in  camp,  their  celerity  in  the 
performance  of  fatigue-duty,  their  patient  endurance 
of  heat  and  cold,  hunger  and  thirst,  and  their  bold 
efficiency  in  battle,  made  them  welcome  companions 
wherever  they  went.  The  officers  who  frowned  at 
their  presence  in  the  army  at  first,  early  learned  from 
experience,  that  they  were  the  equals  of  any  troops 
in  the  army  for  severe  service  in  camp  and  excellent 
fighting  in  the  field. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

ANTI-SLAVERY   AGITATION. 

Slavery  Established  in  the  South.-— After  the  Revo- 
lution, when  the  new  nation  was  recovering  from  the 
effects  of  the  long  continued  war,  it  was  found  that 
slavery  had  established  itself  in  the  Southern  States 
while  in  the  North,  slaves  were  being  set  free. 

Responsibility. — The  responsibility  of  fastening 
slavery  upon  the  new  republic  was  not  the  fault  of  the 
Declaration  of  Independence,  which  stated  that  all  men 
are  created  equal  and  are  endowed  by  the  Creator  with 
inalienable  rights  of  life,  liberty,  and  the  pursuit  of 
happiness.  Southern  statesmen  proved  themselves 
masters  of  the  situation,  and,  seeing  great  gain  in  the 
traffic  in  slaves,  labored  to  establish  it  more  and  more  in 
the  South.  While  they  could  not  hide  behind  the  walls 
of  the  constitution  they  took  refuge,  as  they  thought, 
behind  the  Bible,  and  urged  that  the  divine  origin  of 
slavery  was  incontrovertible,  that  slavery  was  the  nor- 
mal condition  of  every  Negro,  and  that  the  white  man 
was  God's  agent  to  carry  out  the  prophecy  of  Noah 
respecting  the  descendants  of  Ham. 

Agitation. — While  in  the  slave  states  there  was  a 
determined  effort  to  establish  slavery,  yet  throughout 
the  whole  nation,  especially  in  the  North,  the  anti-slav- 
ery sentiment  was  being  agitated  and  increased.  Some 
statesmen,  notably  Mr.  Jefferson,  prophesied  a  dissolu- 
tion of  the  Union  if  the  nation  were  to  remain  half 
slave  and  half  free. 

The  whole  commerce  between  master  and  slave  w&; 

73 


74  PROGRESS   OF   A   RACE. 

denounced  as  the  most  unrelenting  despotism  on  the 
one  part  and  degrading  submission  on  the  other. 

Property  in  Man. — Says  George  Williams:  "When 
the  doctrine  of  property  in  man  was  driven  out  of 
Europe  as  an  exile  and  found  a  home  in  this  New 
World  in  the  West,  the  ancient  and  time  honored  anti- 
slavery  sentiment  combined  all  that  was  good  in  brain, 
heart  and  civilization,  and  hurled  itself  with  righteous 
indignation  against  the  institution  of  slavery  the  per- 
fected curse  of  the  ages. 

The  Quakers. — Foremost  in  the  anti-slavery  agita- 
tion were  the  good  and  kind-hearted  Quakers,  or 
Friends.  In  our  poor  Negro  slaves  they  saw  a  brother, 
and  very  early  in  the  history  of  the  nation  emancipated 
all  their  slaves  and  labored  to  increase  the  anti-slavery 
sentiment. 

Benjamin  Lundy. — One  of  the  first  agitators  of  the 
anti-slavery  movement  was  Benjamin  Lundy,  who 
traveled  through  a  number  of  states  and  labored  inces- 
santly for  the  freeing  of  the  Negro.  In  1830  he  says: 
'  *  I  have  within  ten  years  sacrificed  several  thousands  of 
dollars  of  my  own  earnings,  I  have  traveled  upwards  of 
5,000  miles  on  foot  and  more  than  20,000  in  other  ways, 
have  visited  nineteen  states  of  this  Union  and  held 
more  than  two  hundred  public  meetings,  have  per- 
formed two  voyages  to  the  West  Indies,  by  which 
means  the  emancipation  of  a  considerable  number  of 
slaves  has  been  affected,  and,  I  hope,  the  way  paved 
for  the  enfranchisement  of  many  more. ' '  Considering 
the  extreme  dangers  to  which  any  one  agitating  anti- 
slavery  was  subjected  in  these  times  this  was  a  remark- 
able work.  He  was  afterwards  associated  with  William 
Lloyd  Garrison.  These  men,  together  equally  ardent 
in  their  efforts  to  abolish  slavery,  were,  however,  not 


ANTI-SLAVERY  AGITATION. 

agreed  as  to  the  method.  Lundy  favored  gradual 
emancipation,  Garrison  immediate  and  unconditional 
emancipation. 

William  Lloyd  Garrison.— This  young  man  devoted 
his  life  to  the  cause  of  freeing  the  Negro.  At  an  early 
period  he  edited  an  anti-slavery  paper  and  afterwards 


WILLIAM  LLOYD   GARRISON. 


united  with  Mr.  Lundy  in  publishing  a  paper  at  Balti- 
more. Seeing  a  load  of  slaves  for  the  New  Orleans 
market,  the  sundering  of  families,  as  well  as  the  har- 
rowing cruelties  that  attended  these  scenes,  he  de- 
nounced in  his  paper  in  no  measured  terms,  the  whole 
institution,  and  expressed  his  determination  to  cover 
with  thick  infamy  all  who  were  engaged  in  the  trans- 


76  PROGRESS   OF   A   RACE. 

action.  The  result  was  that  his  paper  was  destroyed, 
he  was  arrested,  tried  for  libel,  and  convicted  and 
imprisoned.  The  exorbitant  fine  imposed  upon  him 
was  afterwards  paid  by  the  benevolent  Arthur  Tap- 
pan.  Garrison  went  forth  from  the  prison  if  possible 
a  more  inveterate  foe  to  slavery  than  ever.  It  was  not 
popular  to  denounce  slavery  and  hence  this  young 
orator  often  encountered  great  dangers.  When  cau- 
tioned he  replied:  "I  am  aware  that  many  object  to 
the  severity  of  my  language,  but  is  there  not  cause  for 
severity.  I  am  but  as  harsh  as  truth  and  as  uncom- 
promising as  justice.  Tell  a  man  whose  house  is  on 
fire  to  give  a  moderate  alarm ;  tell  him  to  moderately 
rescue  his  wife  from  the  hands  of  the  ravisher ;  tell  the 
mother  to  gradually  extricate  her  babe  from  the  fire 
into  which  it  has  fallen ;  but  urge  me  not  to  use  mod- 
eration in  a  cause  like  the  present.  I  am  in  earnest. 
I  will  not  equivocate — I  will  not  excuse — I  will  not 
retreat  a  single  inch.  And  I  will  be  heard. ' '  There 
never  was  a  more  intrepid  leader  against  slavery  than 
William  Lloyd  Garrison. 

Anti-Slavery  Societies.— In  1836  there  were  250 
auxiliary  societies  in  thirteen  states,  and  eighteen 
months  later  they  had  increased  to  1,000. 

Silence  of  the  Pulpit. — It  is  true  that  many  of  the 
foremost  ministers  of  the  day  maintained  an  unbroken 
silence  on  the  slavery  question,  but  all  could  not  be 
kept  silent.  There  were  notable  exceptions  in  many 
parts  of  the  north,  while  in  some  parts  anti-slavery 
men  who  had  been  hoping  for  aid  from  the  church 
went  out  of  the  church  temporarily,  hoping  that  the 
scales  would  drop  from  the  eyes  of  the  preachers  ere 
long.  Dr.  Albert  Barnes  stated:  "That  there  was  no 
power  out  of  the  church  that  would  sustain  slavery  an 
hour  if  it  were  not  sustained  in  it. " 


ANTI-SLAVERY  AGITATION.  77 

Leaders  of  the  Anti-Slavery  Party.— Among  the 
leaders  of  the  anti-slavery  party  we  may  mention  Par- 
ker Pillsbury,  Stephen  Foster,  James  G.  Birney  and 
Samuel  Brooke.  Mr.  Pillsbury  said:  "The  anti- 
slavery  movement  has  unmasked  the  character  of  the 
American  church.  Our  religion  has  been  found  at  war 
with  the  interests  of  humanity  and  the  laws  of  God. 
And  it  is  more  than  time  the  world  was  awakened  to 
its  unhallowed  influence  on  the  hopes  and  happiness 
of  man  while  it  makes  itself  the  palladium  of  the  foul- 
est iniquity  ever  perpetrated  in  the  sight  of  Heaven. ' ' 

Theodore  Parker  was  another  of  the  strong  men  who 
lent  his  influence  wholly  against  slavery. 

Other  Agitators. — Foremost  among  agitators  were 
such  men  as  E.  P.  Lovejoy,  who  afterwards  gave  his 
life  for  the  cause,  James  G.  Birney,  Cassius  M.  Clay 
and  John  Brown.  Of  John  Brown  it  may  be  said  that 
it  was  given  to  him  to  write  the  lesson  upon  the  hearts 
of  the  American  people  so  that  they  were  enabled,  a 
few  years  later,  to  practice  the  doctrine  of  resistance 
and  preserve  the  nation  against  the  bloody  aggressions 
of  the  Southern  Confederacy. 

Colonization  Societies.— These  were  formed  earlier 
than  any  other  an ti- slavery  organizations.  Their  objects 
were  to  rescue  the  free  colored  people  of  the  United 
States  from  the  political  and  social  disadvantages  and 
to  place  them  in  a  country  where  they  might  enjoy  the 
benefits  of  free  government  with  all  the  blessings 
which  it  brings  in  its  train.  The  American  Coloniza- 
tion Society  was  never  able  to  secure  the  confidence 
and  the  support  of  the  anti-slavery  societies  of  the  day 
nor  the  Negro  in  general.  It  did  not  oppose  slavery  in 
its  stronghold,  but  simply  sought  to  secure  a  place  for 
freed  Negroes.  The  press,  in  many  cases,  lent  its  aid 


78 


PROGRESS    OF   A    RACE. 


to  the  colonization  societies,  but,  notwithstanding  the 
apparent  favor  which  it  received,  it  was  readily  seen 
that  to  send  the  Negro  to  Africa  or  some  other  favored 
spot  was  an  impossibility.  The  society  lost  strength 


WENDELL  PHILLIPS. 

yearly  until  all  were  convinced  the  race  could  not  be 
colonized,  but  that  the  Negro  must  be  emancipated 
here  and  remain  here. 

Wendell  Phillips. — One  of  Mr.  Garrison's  most  able 
and  earnest  supporters  was  Wendell  Phillips.    Although 


ANTI-SLAVERY  AGITATION.  79 

in  many  respects  they  strangely  differed  yet  they  stood 
united  for  the  cause  of  freedom ;  one  was  a  self-made 
man,  the  other  a  product  of  New  England  culture. 
One  was  the  executive  of  the  anti-slavery  movement, 
the  other  the  orator  spreading  the  eloquence  that  melted 
the  fetters  from  a  race  and  transformed  a  nation.  Mr. 
Phillips  was  a  reformer  and  early  espoused  the  cause 
of  anti-slavery.  One  of  his  most  remarkable  addresses 
against  slavery  was  made  in  Faneuil  Hall,  Boston, 
where  a  number  had  gathered  after  the  murder  of  Love- 
joy  to  discuss  the  subject  of  slavery.  Faneuil  Hall  was 
secured  by  Dr.  Channing.  It  was  crowded  at  the  time 
of  the  meeting,  thronged  with  three  factions,  some 
being  for  free  discussion,  some  to  make  mischief,  and 
others,  idle  spectators,  were  swayed  to  and  fro  by  each 
speaker  in  turn.  Resolutions  were  offered  denouncing 
the  murder  of  Lovejoy.  To  defeat  the  adoption  of 
these  resolutions  a  popular  politician,  attorney-general 
of  Massachusetts,  made  a  captivating  speech  and 
almost  succeeded  in  turning  the  audience  against  the 
cause  for  which  they  had  met.  The  foes  of  freedom, 
through  this  astute  attorney,  captured  the  hall  and 
were  ready  to  vote  down  the  resolutions.  It  was  at 
this  important  moment,  under  the  very  shadow  of  the 
pending  catastrophe,  that  Wendell  Phillips  claimed 
the  floor  and  with  his  marvelous  voice  captivated 
the  ears  of  his  audience.  Mr.  Phillips  soon  made  him- 
self master  of  the  situation  and  hurled  anathemas  at  the 
previous  speaker,  and  so  completely  carried  his  audi- 
ence with  him  that  at  the  close,  with  a  whirlwind  of 
applause,  the  resolutions  were  carried  by  an  over- 
whelming vote.  Oliver  Johnson  says  of  this  speech  : 
"I  had  heard  Phillips  once  before,  and  my  expecta- 
tions were  high,  but  he  transcended  them  and  took  the 
audience  by  storm. ' ' 


§6  PROGRESS    OF  A    RACE. 

It  was  a  speech  to  which  not  even  the  ablest  report 
could  do  justice,  for  such  a  report  could  not  bring  the 
scene  and  the  speaker  vividly  before  the  people.  Mr. 
Phillips,  by  espousing  the  cause  of  anti-slavery,  was 
ostracised  from  social  circles,  for  caste  at  that  time  in 
New  England  knew  no  recognition  of  true  moral  worth. 
It  cost  Wendell  Phillips  much  when  he  became  an 
abolitionist.  This  speech  on  Loyejoy's  murder  in 
Faneuil  Hall,  cut  him  from  all  social  intercourse  with 
previous  friends.  No  one  but  those  who  have  endured 
the  persecutions  of  these  days  can  understand  what 
it  cost  these  men  to  stand  so  earnestly  for  the  freedom 
of  the  slaves.  Their  true  moral  worth  cannot  be  too 
forcibly  presented  to  the  youth  of  to-day.  Long  live 
in  the  memory  of  the  present  and  future  generations 
men  like  Wendell  Phillips  who  staked  their  all  and 
were  ready  at  any  cost  to  stand  for  the  suppression  of 
the  slave  trade. 

Convention  of  Colored  People.— As  early  as  1831  the 
freed  Negroes  throughout  the  Northern  states  deter- 
mined to  do  what  they  could  for  their  brethren  in 
bonds.  Several  conventions  were  held.  A  college  was 
to  be  established  and  no  doubt  much  good  might  have 
been  done  had  they  been  permitted  to  continue  in  their 
work.  Able  leaders  succeeded  in  making  the  conven- 
tion a  power,  but  the  intense  hatred  of  the  slavery 
element  succeeded  in  abolishing  these  societies  com- 
posed of  persons  of  color.  These  societies  were  dis- 
banded and  their  members  took  their  places  in  white 
societies. 

The  Proposed  College.— A  plan  was  proposed  at  one 
of  these  conventions  that  a  college  on  the  manual-labor 
system  be  established  in  New  Haven.  It  seems,  how- 
ever, New  Haven  resented  the  idea  of  having  a  colored 


ANTI-SLAVERY  AGITATION. 


81 


CHARLES  SUMNER. 

A  staunch  anti-slavery  man  who  did  more  in  Congress  for  the 

freedom  of  the  slave  than  any  other  man.     He  was 

Senator  from  Massachusetts. 


college  and  another  site  was  selected.  The  disband- 
ing of  the  colored  associations  put  a  stop  to  this  move- 
ment which  might  have  '"brought  so  much  good  to  the 
wiole  of  the  .colored  race. 

Anti-Slavery  Women  of  America. — In  1837  the  anti- 
slavery  women  met  in  their  first  convention  in  New 
York,  and  the  question  as  to  admitting  colored  women 

6  Progress. 


82  PROGRESS   OF   A   RACK. 

was 'discussed  and  ably  defended.  It  was  finally  decided 
that  the  society  should  admit  colored  members  as  well. 
The  following  lines  by  a  colored  member,  Miss  Sarah 
Forten,  justified  the  hopes  of  her  white  sisters  concern- 
ing the  race : 

"We  are  thy  sisters.     God  has  truly  said 
That  of  one  blood  the  nations  he  has  made. 
Oh,  Christian  woman,  in  a  Christian  land, 
Canst  thou  unblushing  read  this  great  command? 
Suffer  the  wrongs  which  wring  our  inmost  heart, 
To  draw  one  throb  of  pity  on  thy  part. 
Our  skins  may  differ,  but  from  thee  we  claim 
A  sister's  privilege  and  a  sister's  name." 

Anti- Slavery  Orators. — The  arguments  of  anti- 
slavery  orators  were  often  met  by  rotten  eggs  and  many 
of  them  were  abused.  Mr.  Garrison  was  dragged 
through  the  streets  of  Boston  with  a  halter  about  his 
neck.  Colored  schools  were  broken  up.  Public  meet- 
ings were  disturbed  by  pro- slavery  mobs.  All  this 
violent  opposition  added  fuel  to  the  flame  and  made 
the  anti-slavery  agitators  all  the  bolder.  While  the 
foreign  slave  trade  had  been  suppressed  slave  popula- 
tion was  increasing  at  a  wonderful  ratio.  Garrison's 
voice  was  not  uncertain  in  those  days.  In  July,  1860, 
he  declared:  "Our  object  is  the  abolition  of  slavery 
throughout  the  land.  I  am  for  meddling  with  slavery 
everywhere — attacking  it  by  night  and  by  day,  in  sea- 
son and  out  of  season — in  order  to  effect  its  overthrow. 
Down  with  this  slave -holding  government!  Let  this 
'covenant  with  death  and  agreement  with  hell*  be 
annulled !  Let  there  be  a  free,  independent  Northern 
republic  and  the  speedy  abolition  of  slavery  will  inev- 
itably follow." 


HARRIET  BEECHER    STOWE. 

Author  of  "Uncle  Tom's  Cabin." 


84  PROGRESS    OF  A   RACE. 

Literature. — Anti- slavery  literature  was  scattered 
throughout  the  nation.  Many  pamphlets  and  books 
were  written  by  eminent  Negroes  informing  the  pub- 
lic mind,  stimulating  the  action  and  touching  the  heart 
of  the  civilized  world  of  two  continents.  *  *  Uncle  Tom's 
Cabin,"  however,  pleaded  the  cause  of  slavery  more 
effectually  than  the  millions  of  anti-slavery  books  and 
pamphlets,  presenting  the  despairing  cry  of  the  en- 
slaved, the  struggle  of  fettered  manhood,  and  touched 
the  sympathies  of  the  youth  as  well  as  the  aged  with  a 
pity  for  the  slave  and  a  determination  to  abolish  so 
hideous  an  institution. 

Harriet  Beecher  Stowe. — Although  Harriet  Beecher 
Stowe  was  not  permitted  to  take  an  active  and  direct 
part  in  freeing  the  slaves,  yet  her  work,  "Uncle  Tom's 
Cabin. ' '  did  more  in  bringing  about  the  final  liberation 
of  the  slave  than  any  other  agency.  This  volume  has 
been  translated  into  many  languages.  Everywhere 
read  it  is  destined  to  create  a  sentiment  against  the 
traffic  in  man. 

The  Pro-Slavery  Reaction.— The  agitation  of  the 
anti-slavery  question  brought  about  a  strong  opposition 
to  any  effort  made  to  free  the  slaves.  Rewards  of 
Si  0,000  and  even  $50,000  were  offered  for  the  heads  of 
prominent  abolitionists.  Andrew  Jackson  in  his  mes- 
sage to  Congress  in  1835,  suggested  the  propriety  of  a 
law  that  would  prohibit,  under  severe  penalties,  the  cir- 
culation in  the  Southern  states  through  the  mails  of  pub- 
lications intended  to  incite  the  slaves  to  insurrection. 

Attempts  to  Stifle  Discussions.— The  legislatures  of 
the  different  states,  as  well  as  Congress,  were  next 
entreated  to  prohibit  discussions  of  the  slavery  ques- 
tion. These  efforts  were  generally  defeated  in  the 
North,  but  in  the  South  were  successful 


ANTI-SLAVERY  AGITATION.  85 

Mob  Riots. — In  many  places  mob  violence  was  re- 
sorted to  in  breaking  up  meetings  called  for  the  discus- 
sion of  anti-slavery  questions.  Philadelphia  had  a  riot 
lasting  three  nights  and  the  harmless  and  powerless 
blacks  were  mainly  its  victims.  At  Concord,  N.  H. , 
the  mob  demolished  an  academy  because  colored  boys 
were  admitted  as  pupils.  At  Northfield,  N.  H.,  George 
Storrs  attempted  to  deliver  an  anti-slavery  lecture, 
but  was  dragged  from  his  knees  while  at  prayer.  On 
trial  he  was  acquitted,  but  soon  after  was  again  ar- 
rested and  sentenced  to  three  months'  imprisonment. 
He  appealed  and  that  ended  the  matter. 

At  Boston,  William  Lloyd  Garrison  was  dragged 
through  the  streets  with  a  rope  around  his  body,  but 
was  finally  rescued  by  the  mayor  who  protected  him 
from  further  violence.  In  the  same  city  a  women's 
anti-slavery  society  was  dispersed  by  a  mob  while  its 
president  was  at  prayer.  In  the  South  there  was  but 
one  mode  of  dealing  with  the  abolitionists.  '  *  Let  your 
emissaries  cross  the  Potomac  and  I  promise  you  that 
your  fate  will  be  no  less  than  Hainan's,"  says  a  South- 
ern writer. 

Rifling  the  Mails. — Anti-slavery  literature  was  not 
permitted  to  be  sent  through  the  mails  in  the  South 
and  a  meeting  in  Charleston,  S.  C.,  unanimously 
resolved  that  all  mail  matter  of  this  kind  should  be 
burned.  The  mails  were  searched  and  rifled  for  the 
purpose.  Attempts  were  made  to  bring  offenders  to 
justice,  but  failure  met  them  in  every  case. 

Congress  Suppressing  Agitation. — Not  only  in  the 
state  legislatures,  but  in  Congress,  measures  were 
adopted  to  suppress  the  discussion  of  the  slavery  ques- 
tion. In  1837  Congress  adopted  by  a  vote  of  117  to  68 
the  following  resolution:  "That  all  petitions,  mem- 


86 


PROGRESS   OF  A  RACE. 


orials,  resolutions,  propositions,  or  papers  relating  in 
any  way  to  the  subject  of  slavery  or  the  abolition  of 
slavery  shall,  without  being  either  first  read  or  referred, 


HENRY  WILSON. 

An  anti-slavery  agitator  and  Vice-President  in  1872.      While  in 

Congress  in  1862  he  introduced  a  bill  for  the  employment 

of  Negroes  as  Soldiers. 

be  laid  on  the  table. ' '  Amazing  as  it  may  seem,  this 
heroic  treatment  was  not  successful  in  arresting  agi- 
tation and  restoring  tranquillity  to  the  public  mind, 


ANTI-SLAVERY   AGITATION.  87 

so  that  each  succeeding  Congress  was  necessitated  to 
do  the  work  over  again. 

John  Brown. — One  of  the  most  prominent  of  the 
agitators  of  anti-slavery  was  John  Brown  of  national 
fame.  The  story  >f  this  man's  life  is  too  well  known 
to  be  repeated  here.  After  laboring  for  many  years 
and  succeeding  in  aiding  the  cause  of  anti-slavery  in 
many  ways,  he  attacked  Harper's  Ferry  in  1859  and, 
with  a  number  of  associates  was  made  a  prisoner. 
It  is  vain  to  under-rate  either  the  man  or  his  work. 
With  firmness  of  will  and  a  purpose  unconquerable,  he 
labored  for  the  cause  so  dear  to  him  and  to  which  he 
had  given  most  of  his  years.  After  the  fight  at  Har- 
per's Ferry  he  said:  "I  never  intended  plunder  or 
treason  or  the  destruction  of  property,  or  to  excite  the 
slaves  to  rebellion ;  I  labored  only  to  free  the  slaves. ' ' 
South  Carolina,  Missouri  and  Kentucky  each  sent  a 
rope  to  hang  him,  but  Kentucky's,  proving  the  strong- 
est, was  selected  and  used.  His  last  letter,  written 
before  his  death  to  Mrs.  George  L.  Stearns,  Boston, 
Mass.,  follows: 

"CHARLESTON,  JEFFERSON  Co.,  2pth  Nov.,  1859. 
"MRS.  GEORGE  L.  STEARNS,  Boston,  Mass. 

"My  Dear  Friend:  No  letter  I  have  received  since 
my  imprisonment  here  has  given  me  more  satisfaction 
or  comfort  than  yours  of  the  8th  inst.  I  am  quite 
cheerful  and  never  more  happy.  Have  only  time  to 
write  you  a  word.  May  God  forever  reward  you  and 
all  yours. 

'  *  My  love  to  ALL  who  love  their  neighbors.  I  have 
asked  to  be  spared  from  having  any  mock  or  hypocrit- 
ical prayers  made  over  me  when  I  am  publicly  mur* 


88 


PROGRESS   OF  A   PACE. 


dered;  and  that  my  only  religious  attendants  be  poot 
little,  dirty,  ragged,  bare-headed  and  bare-footed  slave 
boys  and  girls  led  by  some  old  gray -headed  slave 
mother.  Farewell.  Farewell, 

"  Your  friend, 

"JOHN  BROWN." 

John  Brown  gave  slavery  its  death  wound  and  his. 
immortal  name  will  be  pronounced  with  blessings  in 
all  lands  and  bv  all  people  till  the  end  of  time. 


JOHN   BROWN.   THE    ABOLITIONIST. 

m 


CHAPTER  V. 

THE  FUGITIVE  SLAVE  LAWS. 

UNDERGROUND  RAILROAD  SYSTEM SLAVE  POPULATION. 

Fugitive  Slave  Laws. — Very  severe  and  stringent 
laws  were  passed  to  prevent  anyone  from  aiding  the 
slaves  in  attempting  to  escape  to  the  North.  These  laws 
permitted  owners  to  follow  slaves  and  legally  claim 
them  in  other  states.  Any  one  suspected  of  showing 
even  an  act  of  kindness  to  a  fugitive  slave  was  liable 
to  be  flogged,  fined  or  imprisoned.  The  greater  the 
agitation  of  the  question  the  more  severe  were  these 
laws. 

Calvin  Fairbanks. — Many  respected  citizens  were 
imprisoned  and  fined  for  aiding  slaves.  Calvin  Fair- 
banks spent  nearly  eighteen  years  in  a  Kentucky  peni- 
tentiary for  the  crime  of  aiding  poor  slaves  in  gaining 
freedom.  It  is  said  that  during  this  time  he  received 
35,000  stripes  on  his  bare  body.  Early  in  life  he  had 
heard  of  the  sufferings  and  miseries  endured  by  slaves 
and  had  resolved  then  to  do  all  in  his  power  to  right 
the  wrongs  suffered  by  the  race.  He  was  one  of  the 
first  in  the  Underground  Railway  work  along  the  Ohio. 
A  number  of  times  he  was  arrested  in  the  act  of  giving 
assistance  to  slaves  and  committed  to  prison,  where  he 
suffered  untold  cruelties  from  the  hands  of  his  keeper. 
"I  was  flogged  sometimes  bowed  over  a  chair  or  some 
other  object,  often  receiving  seventy  lashes  four  times 
a  day,  and  at  one  time  received  107  blows  at  one  time, 
particles  of  flesh  being  thrown  upon  the  wall  several 
feet  away."  All  this  was  endured  by  a  white  man  in 
order  to  free  the  Negro. 

89 


90  PROGRESS   OF  A   RACE. 

Rev.  John  Rankin,  of  Ohio,  was  fined  $1,000,  besides 
serving  a  term  in  prison. 

W.  L.  Chaplin  aided  two  young  slaves  of  Georgia  to 
escape.  Caught  in  the  act,  he  was  imprisoned  for  five 
months  and  released  on  a  bail  of  $25,000.  His  friends, 
knowing  that  he  would  be  convicted  and  sent  to  the 
penitentiary  for  a  number  of  years,  and  perhaps  for 
life,  resolved  to  pay  his  bail.  All  his  property  was 
sacrificed,  and  through  the  liberality  of  that  princely 
man,  Garrett  Smith,  the  sum  was  raised. 

Thomas  Garrett,  a  Quak  er  of  Delaware,  one  of  the 
most  successful  agents  of  the  Underground  Railway, 
assisted  nearly  3,000  slaves  to  escape  from  bondage ; 
he  was  at  last  convicted  and  fined  so  heavily  that  he 
lost  all  his  property  When  the  auctioneer  had  knocked 
off  his  last  piece  of  property  to  pay  the  fine  he  said : 
"I  hope  you  will  never  be  guilty  of  doing  the  like 
again."  Garrett,  although  penniless  at  the  age  of 
sixty,  replied:  "Friend,  I  have  not  a  dollar  in  the 
world,  but  if  thee  knows  a  fugitive  slave  who  needs  a 
breakfast  send  him  to  me."  It  is  with  pleasure  we 
learn  Mr.  Garrett  lived  to  see  the  day  when  the  slaves 
obtained  their  freedom. 

Levi  Coffin. — This  man  of  high  social  position,  a 
Quaker  of  Cincinnati,  was  frequently  called  the  presi- 
dent of  the  Underground  Railway.  He  succeeded  in 
aiding  about  25,000  slaves  in  gaining  their  freedom. 

Captain  Jonathan  Walker. — Mr. Walker  took  aeon- 
tract  to  build  a  railroad  in  Florida  and  for  this  purpose 
employed  a  number  of  Negroes.  By  kind  treatment  he 
gained  the  confidence  of  these  slaves  who  afterwards 
persuaded  him  to  aid  them  in  gaining  their  liberty. 
They  attempted  to  escape  in  a  boat  to  an  island  not  far 
away.  Captain  Walker  was  taken  violently  sick,  and 


THE   FUGITIVE   SLAVE   LAWS.  91 

the  Negroes,  not  understanding  how  to  manage  the 
boat,  were  taken  tip  by  another  vessel  and  taken  to  Key 
West.  Captain  Walker  was  tried  in  the  United  States 
Court  and  was  sentenced  to  be  branded  on  the  right 
hand  with  the  capital  letters  "S.  S. "  (slave  stealer), 
and  to  pay  as  many  fines  as  there  were  slaves ;  to  suffer 


THOMAS  GARRETT. 
Prom  "  Underground  Railroad,"  by  permission  of  Author. 

as  many  terms  imprisonment;  and  to  pay  the  costs 
and  stand  committed  until  the  fines  were  paid.  The 
initials  of  the  words  * '  slave  stealer ' '  were  branded 
upon  his  hand  and  he  was  imprisoned,  but  his  friends 
succeeded  in  raising  money  to  pay  his  fines  and  he 
was  released  in  1845.  The  following  lines  by  Whittier 
gave  quite  another  meaning  to  the  brand  "S.  S.," 


92  PROGRESS   OF  A  RACE. 

making  it  a  badge  of  honor,  signifying  the  heroism 
and  self-sacrifice  in  spirit  of  these  forerunners  of 
liberty. 

"  Then  lift  that  manly  right  hand,  bold  plowman  of  the  wave, 
Its  branded  palm  shall  prophesy  Salvation  to  the  Slave ; 
Hold  up  its  fire- wrought  language,  that  whoso  reads  may  feel 
His  heart  swell  strong  within  him,  his  sinews  change  to  steel ; 
Hold  it  up  before  our  sunshine,  up  against  our  Northern  air. 
Ho!  men  of  Massachusetts,  for  the  love  of  God,  look  there! 
Take  it  henceforth  for  your  standard,  like  the  Bruce 's  heart  ol 

yore; 

In  the  dark  strife  closing  round  ye  let  that  hand    be  seen 
before." 

Underground  Railroad.— By  this  term  we  designate 
the  many  methods  and  systems  by  which  fugitive 
slaves  from  the  Southern  States  were  aided  in  es- 
caping to  the  North  or  Canada. 

After  slavery  was  abolished  in  the  North  slaves 
frequently  ran  away  from  their  masters  and  attempted 
to  reach  the  free  states  of  the  North,  or  better  still, 
Canada,  where  they  were  beyond  the  reach  of  their 
former  masters. 

These  so-called  railroads  were  most  useful  auxiliar- 
ies in  giving  aid  to  the  Negro.  Fugitive  slave  laws 
gave  masters  the  right  to  pursue  the  slaves  into  an- 
other state  and  bring  them  back.  The  men  interested 
in  these  railways  were  men  who  felt  they  should  fear 
God  rather  than  man,  that  the  fugitive  slave  laws 
were  unjust  and  that  they  should  not  be  obeyed. 
They  were  composed  of  a  chain  of  good  men  who 
stretched  themselves  across  the  land  from  the  borders 
of  the  slave  states  all  the  way  to  Canada.  Many  fu- 
gitive slaves  were  thus  permitted  to  escape.  They 
were  carried  by  night  to  a  place  of  safety  and  then 
turned  over  to  another  conductor  who  very  often 


THE    FUGITIVE   SLAVE   LAWS.  93 

would  load  up  and  convey  the  fugitives  in  a  covered 
wagon  to  the  next  station.  Thus  they  were  carried 
on  from  one  place  to  another.  As  soon  as  leaders 
rose  among  the  slaves  who  refused  to  endure  hard- 
ship, the  fugitive  then  came  north.  George  Williams 
says:  "Had  they  remained,  the  direful  scenes  of  St. 
Domingo  would  have  been  re-enacted,  and  the  hot 
vengeful  breath  of  massacre  would  have  swept  the 
South  as  a  tornado  and  blanched  the  cheek  of"  the 
civilized  world. ' ' 

Different  Branches.— It  would  be  very  difficult  to 
name  all  the  branches  of  the  ' '  Underground  Railroad. ' ' 
They  extended  all  the  way  from  New  Jersey  to  Illi- 
nois. Probably  those  on  which  the  greatest  number 
was  rescued  extended  through  Pennsylvania  and  Ohio. 
Many  local  branches  existed  in  different  parts  of  the 
country. 

William  Still. — One  of  the  most  active  workers  in 
freeing  slaves  was  William  Still.  He  was  chairman  and 
secretary  of  the  eastern  branch  of  the  road.  It  is  won- 
derful what  work  such  men  as  Mr.  Still  did  in  those 
days  when  opposition  was  so  great.  A  part  of  the 
work  that  he  has  done  is  recorded  in  "  Underground 
Railroad."  In  the  preface  of  this  work  Mr.  Still 
says :  "  In  these  records  will  be  found  interesting  nar- 
ratives of  the  escapes  of  men,  women  and  children 
from  the  present  House  of  Bondage ;  from  cities  and 
plantations ;  from  rice  swamps  and  cotton  fields ;  from 
kitchens  and  mechanic  shops ;  from  border  states  and 
gulf  states;  from  cruel  masters  and  mild  masters; 
some  guided  by  the  north  star  alone,  penniless,  brav- 
ing the  perils  of  land  and  sea,  eluding  the  keen  scent 
of  the  bloodhound  as  well  as  the  more  dangerous  pur- 
suit of  the  savage  slave-hunter;  some  from  secluded 


i* 

fa  -a" 
II 


OS 

w  p 

si 


THE   FUGITIVE   SLAVE   LAWS.  95 

dens  and  caves  of  the  earth,  where  for  months  and 
years  they  had  been  hidden  away  awaiting  the  chance 
to  escape;  from  mountains  and  swamps,  where  inde- 
scribable sufferings  and  other  privations  had  patiently 
been  endured.  Occasionally  fugitives  came  in  boxes 
and  chests,  and  not  infrequently  some  were  secreted 
in  steamers  and  vessels,  and  in  some  instances  jour- 
neyed hundreds  of  miles  in  skiffs.  Men  disguised  in 
female  attire  and  women  dressed  in  the  garb  of  men 
have  under  very  trying  circumstances  triumphed  in 
thus  making  their  way  to  freedom.  And  here  and 
there,  when  all  other  modes  of  escape  seemed  cut  off, 
some,  whose  fair  complexions  have  rendered  them 
indistinguishable  from  their  Anglo-Saxon  brethren, 
feeling  that  they  could  endure  the  yoke  no  longer, 
with  assumed  airs  of  importance,  such  as  they  had 
been  accustomed  to  see  their  masters  show  when  trav- 
eling, have  taken  the  usual  modes  of  conveyance  and 
have  even  braved  the  most  scrutinizing  inspection  of* 
slave-holders,  slave -catchers,  and  car  conductors,  who 
were  ever  on  the  alert  to  catch  those  who  were  con- 
sidered base  and  white  enough  to  practice  such  decep- 
tion. ' '  Mr.  Still  says  that  the  passengers  on  the  Un- 
derground Railroad  were  generally  above  the  average 
order  of  slaves. 

Agents. — As  the  branches  of  the  railroad  were  nu- 
merous it  would  be  impossible  to  name  any  consider- 
able number  of  the  agents  of  the  road.  Some  of  these 
nobly  periled  their  all  for  the  freedom  of  the  op- 
pressed. Seth  Concklin  lost  his  life  while  endeavoring 
to  rescue  from  Alabama  slavery  the  wife  and  children 
of  Peter  Still.  Samuel  D.  Burris,  whose  faithful  and 
heroic  service  in  connection  with  the  underground 
railway  cost  him  imprisonment  and  inhuman  treat- 


96 


PROGRESS   OF   A    RACK. 


ment,  at  last  lost  his  freedom  by  being  sold  from  the 
auction  block. 


WILLIAM   STILL. 

See  sketch  in  Chapter  XIV. 


THE   FUGITIVE  SLAVE  LAWS.  97 

Indeed,  prudence  often  dictated  that  the  recipients  of 
favors  should  not  know  the  names  of  their  helpers  and 
vice  versa,  they  did  not  desire  to  know  others.  The 
slave  and  his  friends  could  only  meet  in  private  to 
transact  the  business  of  the  road.  All  others  were 
outsiders.  The  right  hand  was  not  to  know  what  the 
left  hand  was  doing.  The  safety  of  all  concerned 
called  for  still  tongues.  For  a  long  time  no  narratives 
were  written.  Probably  the  best  and  most  authentic 
of  these  thrilling  accounts  of  the  struggle  for  liberty 
are  found  in  ''Underground  Railroad." 

Methods  Pursued. — Different  methods  were  pursued 
to  aid  fugitive  slaves;  some  availed  themselves  of 
steamboats,  railroads,  stage  coaches,  but  more  fre- 
quently a  more  private  method  was  resorted  to,  so  as 
to  escape  detection.  A  number  of  cases  are  reported 
where  colored  men  were  boxed  up  and  shipped  by 
express  across  the  line. 

William  Jones,  from  Baltimore,  succeeded  in  having 
his  friends  box  him  up  and  ship  him  by  express  to 
Philadelphia ;  for  seventeen  hours  he  was  enclosed  in 
the  box,  but  friends  at  the  Philadelphia  underground 
station  succeeded  in  getting  the  box  safely,  and  after  a 
time  in  sending  the  slave  to  Canada. 

Mr.  Pratt,  in  his  sketches  of  the  underground  railway, 
gives  a  number  of  interesting  accounts  of  escapes, 
among  which  are  a  mother  and  daughter  who  escaped 
in  a  box  from  Washington  to  Warsaw,  New  York. 
With  the  aid  of  a  friend  they  secured  a  box,  put  in  it 
straw,  quilts,  plenty  of  provisions  and  water,  and  their 
friend  carried  the  box  in  a  spring  wagon  to  the  North. 
This  friend,  in  order  to  succeed  in  his  efforts,  passed 
himself  off  as  a  Yankee  clock  peddler,  and  as  he  drove 
a  wagon  and  good  team,  no  questions  were  asked. 

7  Progress. 


98  PROGRESS   OF  A   RACfi. 

When  out  of  sight  of  settlements  he  would  open  the 
box  and  give  the  inmates  an  opportunity  to  walk  in 
the  night  for  exercise.  The  master  heard  of  their 
whereabouts  and  sent  slave-hunters  to  recapture  them, 


A   BOLD   STROKE   FOR   FREEDOM. 

From  "Underground  Railroad,"  by  permission  of  Author." 

but  the  sentiment  against  slavery  was  so  strong  that 
they  were  not  permitted  to  take  them  back. 

Henry  Box  Brown. — The  marvelous  escape  of  Henry 
Box  Brown  was  published  widely  in  papers  when  the 
an ti- slavery  agitation  was  being  carried  on.  In  point 
of  interest  his  case  is  no  more  remarkable  than  any 
other;  indeed,  he  did  not  suffer  near  as  much  as  many. 
He  was  a  piece  of  property  in  the  city  of  Richmond. 
He  seemed  to  be  a  man  of  inventive  mind,  and  knew 
'that  it  was  no  small  task  to  escape  the  vigilance  of 
Virginia  slave  hunters,  or  the  wrath  of  an  enraged 
master,  for  attempting  to  escape  to  a  land  of  liberty. 


THE    FUGITIVE  SLAVE   LAWS.  99 

The  ordinary  modes  of  travel,  he  concluded,  might 
prove  disastrous  to  his  hopes,  he  therefore  hit  upon  a 
new  invention,  which  was  to  have  himself  boxed  up 
and  forwarded  to  Philadelphia  by  express.  Size  of 
box  was  2  feet  wide,  2  feet  8  inches  deep  and  3  feet 
long-.  His  food  consisted  of  a  few  small  biscuits.  He 
had  a  large  gimlet  which  he  intended  to  use  for  fresh 
air  if  necessary.  Satisfied  that  this  would  be  far  better 
than  to  remain  in  slavery,  he  entered  the  box.  It  was 


RESURRECTION  OF  HENRY  BOX  BROWN. 

Prom  "  Undergrrotmd  Railroad,"  by  permission  of  Author. 

safely  nailed  up  and  hooped  with  five  hickory  hoops, 
and  addressed  by  his  friend,  Jaines  A.  Smith,  a  shoe 
dealer,  to  Wm.  Johnson,  Arch  street,  Philadelphia, 
marked  "This  side  up,  with  care. "  It  was  twenty-six 
hours  from  the  time  he  left  Richmond  until  he  arrived 
in  Philadelphia.  The  notice,  "This  side  up,"  did  not 
avail,  for  the  box  was  often  roughly  handled.  For 
a  while  the  box  was  upside  down  and  he  was  on  his 
head  for  miles.  The  members  of  the  vigilance  com- 


100  PROGRESS  OF  A  RACE. 

mittee  of  Philadelphia  had  been  informed  that  he 
would  be  started.  One  of  the  committee  went  to  the 
depot  at  half  past  two  o'clock  in  the  morning  to  look 
after  the  box,  but  did  not  find  it.  The  same  afternoon 
he  received  a  telegram  from  Richmond,  "Your  case  of 
goods  is  shipped  and  will  arrive  to-morrow  morning. " 

Mr.  McKim,  who  had  been  engineering  this  under- 
taking, found  it  necessary  to  change  the  program,  for 
it  would  not  be  safe  to  have  the  express  bring  it 
directly  to  the  anti-slavery  office.  He  went  to  a  friend 
who  was  extensively  engaged  in  mercantile  business 
who  was  ready  to  aid  him.  This  friend,  Mr.  Davis, 
knew  all  the  Adams  Express  drivers,  and  it  was  left  to 
him  to  pay  a  trusty  man  $5  in  gold  to  go  next  morn- 
ing and  bring  the  box  directly  to  the  an ti- slavery  office. 

Those  present  to  behold  the  resurrection  were  J.  M. 
McKim,  Professor  C.  D.  Cleveland,  Lewis  Thompson, 
and  Wm.  Still.  The  box  was  taken  into  the  office. 
When  the  door  had  been  safely  locked,  Mr.  McKim 
rapped  quietly  on  the  lid  of  the  box  and  called  out "  All 
right."  Instantly  came  the  answer  from  within,  "All 
right,  sir."  Saw  and  hatchet  soon  removed  the  five 
hickory  hoops  and  raised  the  lid  of  the  box.  Rising  up 
in  his  box,  Brown  reached  out  his  hand,  saying, ' '  How 
do  you  do,  gentlemen."  He  was  about  as  wet  as  if  he 
had  come  up  out  of  the  Delaware.  He  first  sang  the 
psalm  beginning  with  these  words :  "I  waited  patiently 
for  the  Lord,  and  he  heard  my  prayer. ' '  At  the  home 
of  Lucretia  Mott  he  received  a  cordial  reception,  and 
was  entertained  for  some  time,  when  he  went  to  Boston. 

The  success  of  this  undertaking  encouraged  Smith, 
who  had  nailed  him  up  in  the  box,  to  render  similar 
service  to  two  other  young  bondmen.  But,  unfortun- 
ately, in  this  attempt  the  undertaking  proved  a  failure. 


THE   FUGITIVE   SLAVE   LAWS.  101 

The  young  men,  after  being  duly  expressed  and  some 
distance  on  the  road,  were,  through  the  agency  of  the 
telegraph,  betrayed,  and  the  heroic  young  fugitives 
were  taken  from  the  box  and  dragged  back  to  helpless 
bondage.  Smith  was  arrested  and  imprisoned  for 
seven  years  in  a  Richmond  penitentiary.  He  lost  all 


CHARITY   STILL, 

Who  Twice  Escaped  from  Slavery. 

his  property,  was  refused  witnesses  on  his  trial,  and  for 
five  long  months,  in  hot  weather,  he  was  kept  heavily 
chained  in  a  cell  4x8  feet  in  dimensions.  Mr.  Smith 
had,  by  his  efforts,  aided  many  to  gain  their  liberty. 
He  received  five  stabs  aimed  at  his  heart  by  a  bribed 
assassin.  But  all  these  things  did  not  move  him  from 
his  purpose.  After  his  release  he  went  North  and  was 
united  in  marriage  at  Philadelphia  to  a  lady  who  had 
remained  faithful  to  him  through  all  his  sufferings. 
Amanda  Smith,  in  her  autobiography,  tells  how  her 


102  PROGRESS   OF   A   RACE. 

father  assisted  runaway  slaves.  ' '  Our  house, ' '  she  says, 
"was  one  of  the  main  stations  of  the  underground 
railway.  My  father  took  the  Baltimore  Weekly  Sun 
newspaper,  that  always  had  advertisements  of  runaway 
slaves.  These  would  be  directed  by  their  friends  to 
our  house  and  we  would  assist  them  on  their  way  to 
liberty.  Excitement  ran  very  high,  and  we  had  to  be 
very  discreet  in  order  not  to  attract  suspicion.  My 
father  was  watched  closely,  as  he  was  suspected  of 
aiding  slaves.  After  working  all  day  in  the  harvest 
field  he  would  come  home  at  night,  sleep  about  two 
hours,  then  start  at  midnight  and  walk  fifteen  or 
twenty  miles  and  carry  a  poor  slave  to  a  place  of 
security,  sometimes  a  mother  and  child,  sometimes 
a  man  and  wife,  then  get  home  just  before  day.  Thus  he 
many  times  baffled  suspicion,  and  never  but  once  was 
there  a  poor  slave  taken  from  my  father's  hands,  and  if 
that  man  had  told  the  truth  he  would  have  been  saved. 
"One  week  the  papers  were  full  of  notices  of  a  slave 
who  had  run  away.  A  heavy  reward  was  offered,  a 
number  of  men  in  our  neighborhood  deterimned  to  get 
the  reward  if  possible.  They  suspected  our  home  as  a 
place  of  safety  for  the  poor  slave.  We  had  concealed 
the  poor  fellow  for  about  two  weeks,  as  there  was  no 
possible  chance  for  father  or  anyone  else  to  get  him 
away,  so  closely  were  we  watched.  One  day  four  men 
came  on  horseback.  As  father  saw  them  he  called  to 
mother  that  four  men  were  coming.  He  met  them 
and  they  demanded  of  him  to  know  whether  he  had  a 
nigger  there.  Father  said,  'If  I  tell  you  I  have  not 
you  won't  believe  me,  if  I  tell  you  I  have  it  will  not 
satisfy  you,  so  search  for  yourself. '  Mother  had  in  the 
meantime  concealed  him  between  the  cords  and  the 
straw  tick.  The  men  searched  the  house,  looked  under 


THE    FUGITIVE   SLAVE    LAWS.  103 

the  bed,  and  satisfied  themselves  that  he  was  not  there ; 
thus  we  succeeded  in  saving  him  from  slavery." 

William  and  Ellen  Graft  were  slaves  in  the  state  of 
Georgia.  The  desire  to  become  free  became  so  strong 
that  they  commenced  planning  to  escape.  Ellen,  being 
fair,  would  pass  for  a  white  man,  and  was  to  act  the  part 
of  master,  while  William  was  to  be  the  servant.  She 
dressed  in  a  fashionable  suit  of  male  attire,  and  was  to 
pass  as  a  young  planter.  But  Ellen  was  beardless. 
After  mature  reflection  her  face  was  muffled  up  as 
though  the  young  planter  was  suffering  from  a  face  or 
toothache.  In  order  to  prevent  the  method  of  register- 
ing at  hotels,  Ellen  put  her  right  arm  in  a  sling,  put  on 
green  spectacles,  and  pretended  to  be  very  hard  of 
hearing  and  dependent  upon  the  faithful  servant. 

Ellen,  disguised  as  a  young  planter,  was  to  have 
nothing  to  do  but  to  hold  herself  subject  to  her  ail- 
ments and  put  on  the  air  of  superiority.  The  servant 
was  always  ready  to  explain  in  case  of  inquiry.  They 
stopped  at  first-class  hotels  in  Charleston,  Richmond 
and  Baltimore,  and  arrived  safely  in  Philadelphia, 
where  the  rheumatism  disappeared,  her  right  arm  was 
unslung,  her  toothache  was  gone,  the  beardless  face  was 
unmuffled,  the  deaf  heard  and  spoke,  the  blind  saw. 
The  strain  on  Ellen's  nerves,  however,  had  tried  her 
severely,  and  she  was  physically  prostrated  for  some 
time.  Her  husband,  William,  was  thoroughly  colored, 
and  was  a  man  of  marked  ability  and  good  manners, 
and  full  of  pluck.  They  were  sent  to  Boston,  where 
they  lived  happily  until  the  fugitive  slave  law  was 
passed.  Then  slave,  hunters  from  Macon,  Georgia, 
were  soon  on  their  track,  but  the  sympathy  of  friends 
in  Boston  would  not  permit  their  being  returned  to 
Georgia.  It  was,  however,  considered  best  for  them 


104  PROGRESS   OF   A   RACE. 

to  seek  a  country  where  they  would  not  be  in  daily 
fear  of  slave  capturers,  backed  by  the  United  States 
Government.  They  were  therefore  sent  by  their 
friends  to  Great  Britain: 

In  England  the  Crafts  were  highly  respected.  After 
the  emancipation  they  returned  to  the  United  States 
with  two  children,  and,  after  visiting  Boston  and 
neighboring  places,  William  purchased  a  plantation 
near  Savannah,  and  is  living  there  with  his  family. 

Emancipators  Tried. — Those  who  aided  slaves  in 
their  struggle  for  liberty  were  often  tried  and  impris- 
oned. Many  of  them  lost  all  of  their  property  and 
suffered  much  from  the  hands  of  slave  dealers. 

Seth  Concklin's  noble  and  daring  spirit  induced  him 
to  put  forth  the  most  strenuous  efforts  to  redeem  a 
family  of  slaves.  He  learned  to  know  Peter  Still  and 
found  that  his  wife  and  children  were  still  in  Alabama 
in  bondage.  After  considering  the  hazardous  under- 
taking, he  decided  to  make  an  attempt  to  bring  the 
wife  and  children  of  Peter  Still  to  the  North.  He  went 
South,  laid  his  plans  well,  and  succeeded  in  carrying 
the  family  for  seven  days  and  seven  nights  in  his  skiff, 
then  traveled  hundreds  of  miles  on  foot.  They  at  last 
reached  Vincennes,  Indiana.  By  this  time  the  adver- 
tisements of  the  runaway  slaves  had  spread  all  over  the 
country,  and  at  Vincennes  they  were  arrested  and 
taken  South  to  their  former  owner. 

Imagine  the  state  of  mind  of  these  enslaved  ones, 
who,  after  having  endured  so  many  hardships  and  pain, 
so  near  to  freedom's  territory,  were  caught  and  returned 
to  slavery.  Seth  Concklin  was  brutally  murdered  on 
the  way  south. 

Thus  we  might  give  numerous  cases  where  slaves 
were  secreted  for  months  and  endured  the  greatest 


THE   FUGITIVE   SLAVE   LAWS.  105 

hardships  and  were  willing  rather  to  meet  death  than 
to  remain  in  slavery.  Several  girls  made  their  escape 
in  male  attire,  some  secreted  themselves  in  woods, 
traveling  at  night.  Others  succeeded  in  having  friends 
hide  them  in  steamers,  but  the  underground  railroad, 
with  all  its  stations  and  well-planned  schemes,  suc- 
ceeded often  in  defeating  the  plans  of  the  slave  hunt- 
ers. As  soon  as  a  slave  ran  away  papers  were  filled 
with  advertisements  and  rewards  were  offered  for  their 
return.  In  this  way  many  were  looking  for  slaves  so 
as  to  secure  the  rewards,  making  the  escape  of  some 
more  difficult.  One  cannot  read  such  books  as  "The 
Underground  Railroad,  by  Wm.  Still, ' '  or  the  story  of 
Peter  Still,  the  kidnapped  and  the  ransomed,  without 
sincere  thankfulness  that  slavery  is  ended,  and  that  a 
man  is  a  man  without  respect  to  the  color  of  his  skin. 

Slave  Population. — In  1800  the  slave  population  was 
over  900,000;  in  1830  it  had  reached  about  2,000,000; 
in  1840  it  was  estimated  to  be  about  2,500,000;  and  in 
1850  it  was  about  3,000,000.  In  1860  the  aggregate 
Negro  population  in  the  United  States  was  about 
4, 5  oo,  ooo,  of  which  about  4,  ooo,  ooo  were  slaves.  Nearly 
3,000,000  of  the  slaves  were  in  the  rural  districts  of  the 
South.  Southern  prosperity  depended  upon  the  prod- 
uct of  slave  labor,  which  amounted  to  about  $140,000,- 
ooo  per  year.  It  can  be  readily  seen  that  the  Civil 
War,  which  commenced  in  1861,  was  destined  to  shake 
the  very  foundation  of  Southern  civilization.  While 
both  North  and  South  attempted  to  keep  the  real 
cause  of  the  war  in  the  background  the  maxim,  "No 
question  is  settled  until  it  is  settled  right,"  asserted 
itself  here,  and  no  real  progress  was  made  in  the  war 
until  the  Northern  leaders  acknowledged  slavery  as  the 
issue,  and  met  the  question  direct  by  freeing  all  slaves. 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

THE   NEGRO    IN   THE   CIVIL   WAR. 

The  part  enacted  by  Negro  troops  in  the  War  of  the 
Rebellion  is  the  romance  of  North  American  history. 

Number  Enrolled. — The  records  of  the  war  depart- 
ment show  that  there  were  178,595  colored  men  regu- 
larly enlisted  as  soldiers  in  the  Union  army  during  the 
rebellion  who  by  their  good  conduct  established  a 
commendable  record  and  did  efficient  service  in  camp, 
fortress  and  field.  The  first  enlistment  of  Negroes  was 
by  Gen.  Hunter  in  the  Department  of  the  South  in 
June,  1862.  It  was  made  without  the  authority  of  the 
War  Department  and  was  due  to  an  emergency.  Gen. 
Hunter  needed  men. 

Ready  for  Enlistment. — At  the  sound  of  the  tocsin 
at  the  North  the  Negro  waiter,  barber,  cook,  groom, 
porter,  boot-black,  and  laborer,  stood  ready  at  the 
enlisting  office ;  although  the  recruiting  officer  refused 
to  take  his  name  he  waited  patiently  for  the  prejudice 
to  be  removed,  waited  two  long  years  before  the  door 
was  opened,  but  even  then  he  did  not  hesitate  but 
walked  in,  and  with  what  effect  the  world  knows. 

Opposition  to  Enlistment.— From  the  beginning 
there  was  great  opposition  to  enlisting  the  Negro  in 
the  army.  The  Northerners  even  went  so  far  as  to 
return  runaway  Negroes  to  their  owners,  while  the 
South  kept  the  Negro  on  the  plantation.  The  Confed- 
erates, however,  found  it  no  easy  task  to  watch  the 
Negro  and  the  Yankee  too;  their  attention  could  be 
given  to  but  one  at  a  time;  as  a  slave  expressed  it, 

107 


108  PROGRESS    OF    A    RACE. 

"When  Marsa  watch  the  Yankee,  nigger  go — when 
Marsa  watch  the  nigger,  Yankee  come. ' ' 

Objections. — The  "New  York  Times,"  of  February 
16,1863, in  an  editorial  summed  up  the  objections  to  en- 
listing the  Negroes  as  follows :  ' '  First,  that  the  Negroes 
will  not  fight.  Second,  it  is  said  that  the  whites  will 
not  fight  with  them.  Third,  that  the  prejudice  against 
them  is  so  strong  that  our  citizens  will  not  enlist  or 
will  quit  the  service  if  compelled  to  fight  by  their  side, 
and  thus  we  shall  lose  two  white  soldiers  for  one  black 
one  that  we  gain.  Fourth,  it  is  said  that  we  shall  get 
no  Negroes — or  not  enough  to  be  of  any  service. 
In  the  free  states  very  few  will  volunteer,  and  in  the 
slave  states  we  can  get  but  few  because  the  rebels  will 
push  them  southward  as  fast  as  we  advance  upon  them. 
Fifth,  the  use  of  the  Negroes  will  exasperate  the  South. 
We  presume  it  will — but  so  will  any  other  scheme  we 
may  adopt  which  is  warlike  and  effective  in  its  charac- 
ter and  results.  We  are  not  ready  with  Mr.  Vallandin- 
ham,  to  advocate  immediate  and  unconditional  peace ! 
The  best  thing  we  can  do  is  to  possess  ourselves  in 
patience  while  the  experiment  is  being  tried. ' ' 

The  President  and  Secretary  of  War  and  a  large 
majority  of  the  generals  in  the  army  acted  on  the 
theory,  "This  is  a  white  man's  war,  and  the  Negro  has 
no  lot  or  part  in  it. ' ' 

They  seemed  to  be  ignorant  of  the  fact  that  slavery 
was  the  real  cause  of  the  war,  and  hence  held  to  the 
principal  that  all  runaway  slaves  must  be  returned  to 
their  owners  by  the  Union  army. 

General  Hunter. — To  General  David  Hunter,  com- 
manding the  army  in  the  South,  is  given  the  honor  of 
organizing  the  first  southern  colored  regiment.  He 
could  not  get  white  recruits  and  was  surrounded  by  a 


THE   NEGRO   IN  THE   CIVIL  WAR.  109 

multitude  of  able-bodied  Negroes  who  were  idle,  but 
anxious  to  serve  as  soldiers.  In  advance  of  public 
opinion  he  organized  a  regiment  and  was  called  to 
account  for  it  by  the  Secretary  of  War.  He  replied 
that  he  had  instructions  to  employ  all  loyal  persons  in 
defense  of  the  Union  and  the  suppression  of  the 
rebellion,  and  hence  was  not  limited  as  to  color.  He 
informed  the  secretary  that  loyal  slaves  everywhere 
remained  on  their  plantations  to  welcome  them,  aid 
them,  supply  the  army  with  food  and  information,  and 
since  they  were  the  only  men  who  were  loyal,  he  had 
organized  them  into  a  regiment  and  appointed  officers 
to  drill  them.  He  closed  with  these  words:  "The 
experiment  of  arming  the  blacks,  so  far  as  I  have 
made,  has  been  a  complete  and  even  marvelous  suc- 
cess. They  are  sober,  docile,  attentive  and  enthusias- 
tic; displaying  great  natural  capacities  for  acquiring 
the  duties  of  the  soldier.  They  are  eager,  beyond  all 
things,  to  take  the  field  and  be  led  into  action ;  and  it 
is  the  unanimous  opinion  of  the  officers  who  have 
charge  of  them  that  in  the  peculiarities  of  this  climate 
and  country  they  will  prove  invaluable  auxiliaries. ' ' 

Mr.  Wyckliff  created  a  scene  in  the  house  by  de- 
nouncing General  Hunter  and  declaring  that  the  enlist- 
ments of  Negroes  was  an  insult  to  every  white  soldier 
in  the  army.  Nevertheless  Congress  authorized  the  Pres- 
ident to  enlist  "persons  of  African  descent,"  but  pro- 
vided that  they  should  be  used  as  laborers  in  the  camps 
and  forts,  and  were  not  to  be  allowed  to  bear  arms. 

After  a  Year. — Towards  the  close  of  1862  the  war 
clouds  were  still  "growing  thicker.  The  Union  army 
had  won  few  victories ;  the  Northern  troops  had  to  fight 
in  a  tropical  climate,  the  forces  of  nature  and  an  arro- 
gant, jubilant  and  victorious  enemy,  but  in  the  face  of 


110  Pk  OGRESS   OF  A   RACE. 

all  these  discouraging  features  the  President  still  held 
to  his  views  of  managing  the  war  without  bringing  the 
subject  of  slavery  to  the  front.  In  reply  to  a  deputa- 
tion of  gentlemen  from  Chicago,  who  urged  a  more 
vigorous  policy  of  emancipation,  the  President  denied 
the  request  and  stated :  "The  subject  is  difficult  and 
good  men  do  not  agree.  For  instance :  The  other  day, 
four  gentlemen  of  standing  and  intelligence  from  New 
York  called  as  a  delgation  on  business  connected  with 
the  war ;  but  before  leaving  two  of  them  earnestly  be- 
sought me  to  proclaim  general  emancipation,  upon 
which  the  other  two  at  once  attacked  them.  You  know 
also  that  the  last  session  of  Congress  had  a  decided  ma- 
jority of  anti-slavery  men,  yet  they  could  not  unite  upon 
this  policy.  And  the  same  is  true  of  the  religious  people. 
Why,  the  rebel  soliders  are  praying  with  a  great  deal 
more  earnestness,  I  fear,  than  our  own  troops,  and 
expecting  God  to  favor  their  side;  for  one  of  our 
soldiers,  who  had  been  taken  prisoner,  told  Senator 
Wilson  a  few  days  since  that  he  met  nothing  so  discour- 
aging as  the  evident  sincerity  of  the  prayers  of  those 
he  was  among." 

He  admitted  "  that  slavery  was  at  the  root  of  the 
rebellion,  but  was  not  willing  to  act,  but  just  nine  days 
from  that  time  when  he  thought  a  proclamation  not 
warranted  and  impracticable,  he  issued  his  first  Emanci- 
pation Proclamation, 

Public  Opinion  Changes. — When  the  Union  men 
began  to  see  the  worth  of  the  Negro  to  the  Confederate 
army  in  throwing  up  breastworks  that  were  often 
almost  impregnable,  they  began  to  complain  that  the 
Negro  with  his  pick  and  spade  was  a  greater  hindrance 
to  their  progress  than  the  cannon  ball  of  the  enemy ; 
slowly  but  surely  public  opinion  changed.  Congress 


112  PROGRESS   OF   A   RACE. 

prohibited  the  surrender  of  the  Negroes  to  the  rebels, 
the  President  issued  his  Emancipation  Proclamation 
and  the  Negroes  were  rapidly  enlisted. 

In  the  Union  Ranks. — Charles  Sumner  says:  " Those 
who  have  declaimed  loudest  against  the  employment  of 
Negro  troops  have  shown  a  lamentable  amount  of 
ignorance,  and  an  equally  lamentable  lack  of  common 
sense.  They  know  as  little  of  the  military  history  and 
martial  qualities  of  the  African  race  as  they  do  of  their 
own  duties  as  commanders.  All  distinguished  generals 
of  modern  times  who  have  had  opportunity  to  use 
Negro  soldiers  have  uniformly  applauded  their  subor- 
dination, bravery,  and  power  of  endurance.  Washing- 
ton solicited  the  military  services  of  Negroes  in  the 
Revolution,  and  rewarded  them.  Jackson  did  the  same 
in  the  War  of  1812.  Under  both  these  great  captains 
the  Negro  troops  fought  so  well  that  they  received 
unstinted  praise. ' ' 

Confederate  Measures,— The  enlistment  of  Negroes 
in  the  Northern  army  changed  the  policy  of  the  South, 
and  public  opinion,  now  so  strongly  endorsed  in  the 
North,  affected  the  rebels,  who  soon  passed  a  measure 
for  arming  200,000  Negroes  themselves. 

In  the  Navy. — In  the  navy  a  different  course  was 
pursued  from  the  first.  Negroes  were  readily  accepted 
all  along  the  coasts  on  board  the  war  vessels,  this  being 
no  departure  from  the  regular  and  established  practice 
in  the  service. 

Official  Authority. — General  Rufus  Saxon  was  the 
first  officer  to  receive  official  authority  to  enlist  Negroes 
as  soldiers.  On  the  26th  of  August,  1862,  the  Secre- 
tary of  War  ordered  him  to  proceed  to  the  Department 
of  the  South  and  organize  5,000  troops  of  "African 
descent, ' '  which  were  to  be  designated  for  service  in 


THE    NEGRO   IN   THE   CIVIL   WAR.  113 

garrisons  not  in  danger  of  attack  by  the  enemy,  to 
relieve  white  regiments  whose  terms  of  enlistment  had 
expired.  But  one  of  General  Saxon's  first  acts  after 
recruiting  a  regiment  was  to  send  it  on  a  foraging 
expedition  into  the  enemy's  country.  The  result  was 
entirely  satisfactory.  The  colored  men  proved  to  be 
remarkably  good  foragers,  and  brought  in  more  sup- 
plies than  three  times  the  number  of  white  men  could 
have  secured. 

Recruiting  Offices. — Recruiting  stations  were  estab- 
lished throughout  the  South,  and  officers  were  sent  out 
to  enlist  slaves.  In  these  journeys  through  the  country 
officers  often  met  with  strange  experiences.  Recruits 
were  taken  wherever  found,  and  as  their  earthly  pos- 
sessions usually  consisted  of  but  what  they  wore  upon 
their  backs,  they  required  no  time  to  settle  their 
affairs.  The  laborer  in  the  field  would  lay  down  his 
hoe,  or  leave  his  plow,  and  march  away  with  the 
guard.  On  one  occasion  a  large  plantation  was  visited 
and  the  proprietor  asked  to  call  in  his  slaves ;  he  com- 
plied, and  when  they  were  asked  if  they  wished  to 
enlist  replied  that  they  did,  and  fell  into  the  ranks 
with  the  guard.  As  they  started  away  the  old  man 
turned  and,  with  tears  in  his  eyes,  said:  "Will  you 
take  them  all?  Here  I  am  an  old  man;  I  cannot  work; 
my  crops  are  ungathered,  my  Negroes  have  all  enlisted 
or  run  away,  and  what  am  I  to  do?"  Several  recruit- 
ing officers  were  tarred  and  feathered  and  others  were 
shot.  Several  officers  were  dismissed  from  the  army 
for  refusing  to  command  Negro  troops ;  others  resigned 
in  preference  to  doing  so. 

Indignation. — Although  the  Confederates  anticipated 
the  Federal  government  in  the  employment  of  Negroes 
as  military  forces,  they  exhibited  a  good  deal  of  indig- 

8  Progress. 


114  PROGRESS   OF  A   RACE. 

nation  when  their  example  was  followed,  and  the 
Records  of  the  Confederate  Congress  show  some  sensa- 
tional measures  of  retaliation  threatened  against  the 
government  of  the  United  States  on  this  account. 
It  was  proposed,  among  other  things,  to  raise  the  black 
flag  against  Negro  soldiers  and  white  officers  who  com- 
manded them,  and  in  some  cases  this  retaliation  was 
enforced,  as  at  Port  Pillow,  but  finally  the  Confederate 
Congress  formally  recognized  the  usefulness  of  the 
Negro  as  a  soldier  as  well  as  a  laborer,  and  authorized 
President  Davis  to  enlist  an  unlimited  number  of  col- 
ored troops. 

Governor  Yates. — This  fact  was  commented  upon  by 
Governor  Yates,  of  Illinois,  in  a  message  he  sent  to  the 
legislature  of  that  state,  as  a  most  extraordinary  phe- 
nomenon in  history.  He  said  the  leaders  of  the  insur- 
rection had  called  upon  the  cause  of  the  insurrection 
to  save  it,  and  had  recognized  the  intelligence  and 
manhood  of  the  despised  race  by  lifting  it  to  a  level 
with  themselves.  A  wise  providence,  he  said,  was 
directing  the  destiny  of  the  Confederates,  so  that  they 
will  terminate  the  very  evil  they  are  fighting  to  main- 
tain. .  Slavery  was  to  be  the  corner  stone  of  their  new 
Confederacy,  but,  says  Governor  Yates,  a  man  who  has 
been  a  soldier  will  never  be  a  slave. 

Discrimination. — In  the  matter  of  pay  there  was  for 
a  long  time  discrimination  against  the  Negro  troops. 
While  the  troops  of  the  regular  army  were  paid  $13.00 
per  month,  the  Negroes  received  but  $10.00,  three  of 
which  was  deducted  on  account  of  clothing.  Some 
regiments  refused  to  receive  $10.00  per  month  and 
others  were  paid  in  full.  The  injustice  done  the  Negro 
soldier  in  this  discrimination  was  often  a  violation 
of  a  solemn  and  written  pledge  of  the  govern- 


116  PROGRESS  OF  A   RACE. 

ment  that  declared  that  they  should  receive  the  same 
pay  and  allowances  as  the  white  men.  In  definite 
terms,  Congress  and  the  War  Department  was  de- 
nounced as  the  enemy  of  the  Negro  in  this  discrimina- 
tion. All  honor  to  the  Fifty-fourth  colored  regiment 
of  Massachusetts  that  refused  to  receive  the  $7.00  per 
month  until  the  authorities  were  driven  to  give  equal 
pay  to  Negroes  and  whites. 

General  Butler. — Nearly  all  the  generals  of  the  army 
opposed  the  enlistment  of  the  Negro.  General  Phelps, 
stationed  at  Louisiana,  made  a  bold  fight  for  the 
Negro,  and  attempted  to  enlist  them  in  and  around 
New  Orleans,  but  being  so  strongly  opposed  by  General 
Butler,  he  was  forced  to  resign  and  return  to  his  home. 

The  sentiment  of  the  North  seemed  to  admit  the 
right  of  the  South  to  hold  slaves.  That  General  Butler 
afterwards  entirely  changed  his  opinion  is  seen  by  his 
speech  on  the  floor  of  Congress,  when  he  said:  "It 
became  my  painful  duty,  sir,  to  follow  in  the  track  of 
the  charging  column,  and  there,  in  a  space  not  wider 
than  the  clerk's  desk,  and  three  hundred  yards  long, 
lay  the  dead  bodies  of  three  hundred  and  fifty-three  of 
my  colored  comrades,  slain  in  the  defense  of  their 
country,  who  laid  down  their  lives  to  uphold  its  flag 
and  its  honor  as  a  willing  sacrifice ;  and  as  I  rode  along 
among  them,  guiding  my  horse  this  way  and  that  way 
lest  he  should  profane  with  his  hoofs  what  seemed  to 
me  the  sacred  dead,  and  as  I  looked  on  their  bronzed 
faces  upturned  in  the  shining  sun  as  if  -  in  mute  appeal 
against  the  wrongs  of  the  country  for  which  they  had 
given  their  lives,  and  whose  flag  had  only  been  to  them 
a  flag  of  stripes  on  which  no  star  of  glory  had  ever  shone 
for  them — feeling  I  had  wronged  them  in  the  past,  and 
believing  what  was  the  future  of  my  country  to  them 


THE  NEGRO  IN  THE  CIVIL  WAR.  117 

— among  my  dead  comrades  there  I  swore  myself  a 
solemn  oath:  'May  my  right  hand  forget  its  cunning, 
and  my  tongue  cleave  to  the  roof  of  my  mouth,  if  I 
ever  fail  to  defend  the  rights  of  those  men  who  have 
given  their  blood  for  me  and  my  country  this  day,  and 
for  their  race  forever;'  and,  God  helping  me,  I  will 
keep  this  oath. ' ' 

President  Lincoln,  when  urged  by  Dr.  Patton,  of 
Chicago,  to  press  the  Negro  into  service  said:  "If 
we  were  to  arm  them,  I  fear  that  within  a  few  weeks, 
the  arms  would  be  in  the  hands  of  the  rebels. ' ' 

In  Congress. — In  Congress  a  bill  was  passed  to  raise 
and  equip  1.50,000  soldiers  of  African  descent.  Colonel 
T.  Higginson  now  watched  the  acts  of  Congress  and 
ascended  the  St.  John's  river  in  Florida  and  captured 
Jacksonville,  which  had  been  abandoned  by  white 
Union  troops. 

The  New  York  Tribune  said:  "Drunkenness,  the 
bane  of  our  army,  does  not  exist  among  our  black 
troops."  "Nor  have  I  yet  discovered  the  slightest 
ground  of  inferiority  to  white  troops. " 

Prejudice  Broken  Down.— The  bravery  and  excel- 
lence of  the  Negro  in  the  battlefield  soon  broke  down 
prejudices  against  the  Negro  on  the  part  of  the  white 
officers,  and  it  was  not  long  before  100,000  Negroes 
were  found  in  the  Union  ranks. 

Colonel  Shaw. — Colonel  Shaw  commanded  the  first 
colored  regiment  organized  in  the  free  states,-  the 
Fifty-fourth  Massachusetts,  and  it  was  this  regiment 
that  played  such  an  important  part  in  the  attempt  to 
take  Fort  Wagner.  After  making 'a  forced  effort  and 
march  .for  a  day  and  a 'night,  through  swamps -and 
drenching  rains,  without  food  or  rest,  hungry -and- 
fatigued  they  reached  General  Strong's  headquarters'oxT 


118  PROGRESS  OF  A   RACE. 

that  memorable  morning,  just  as  they  were  forming 
into  line  of  battle.  Colonel  Shaw  made  a  thrilling 
patriotic  speech  to  his  men,  and,  after  a  most  desperate 
and  gallant  fight,  succeeded  in  planting  the  regimental 
flag  on  the  works.  The  Negro  color  bearer,  John  Wall, 
was  killed.  But.  Wm.  H.  Carney  seized  it,  and,  after 
receiving  several  wounds,  one  of  which  mangled  his 
arm,  brought  the  flag  to  the  standard  with  his  own 
blood  on  it  and  shouted,  "Boys,  the  old  flag  never 
touched  the  ground. ' ' 

Fort  Wagner. — M.  S.  Littlefield,  in  writing  of  Fort 
Wagner  says:  "Sergeant  W.  H.  Carney,  Company  C, 
writes  he  was  with  the  first  battalion,  which  was  in 
the  advance  of  the  storming  column.  He  received  the 
regimental  colors,  pressed  forward  to  the  front  rank, 
near  the  colonel,  who  was  leading  the  men  over  the 
ditch.  He  says,  as  they  ascended  the  wall  of  the  fort, 
the  ranks  were  full,  but  as  soon  as  they  reached  the  top 
'they  melted  away*  before  the  enemy's  fire  *  almost 
instantly. '  He  received  a  severe  wound  in  the  thigh, 
but  fell  upon  his  knees.  He  planted  the  flag  upon  the 
parapet,  lay  down  on  the  outer  slope,  that  he  might 
get  as  much  shelter  as  possible ;  there  he  remained  for 
over  an  hour,  till  the  second  brigade  came  up.  He 
kept  the  colors  flying  until  the  second  conflict  was 
ended.  When  our  forces  retired  he  followed,  creeping 
upon  one  knee,  still  holding  up  the  flag.  It  was  thus 
that  Sergeant  Carney  came  from  the  field,  having  held 
the  emblem  of  liberty  over  the  walls  of  Fort  Wagner 
during  the  sanguinary  conflict  of.  the  two  brigades,  and 
having  received  two  very  severe  wounds,  one  in  the 
thigh  and  one  in  the  head.  Still  he  refused  to  give  up 
his  sacred  trust  until  he  found  an  officer  of  his  regi- 
ment. 


SERGEANT  WM.  H.  CARNEY. 
119 


120  PROGRESS  OF  A  RACE. 

"When  he  entered  the  field  hospital,  where  his 
wounded  comrades  were  being  brought  in,  they  cheered 
him  and  the  colors.  Though  nearly  exhausted  with 
the  loss  of  blood,  he  said:  'Boys,  the  old  flag  never 
touched  the  ground. '  Of  him  as  a  man  and  soldier  I 
can  speak  in  the  highest  terms  of  praise. ' ' 

Milliken  Bend. — "Tauntingly  it  has  been  said  that 
Negroes  won't  fight.  Who  say  it,  and  who  but  a 
dastard  and  brute  will  dare  to  say  it,  when  the  battle 
of  Milliken 's  Bend  finds  its  place  among  the  heroic 
deeds  of  this  war?  This  battle  has  significance.  It 
demonstrated  the  fact  that  the  freed  slaves  will  fight. ' ' 

General  Grant  says  of  Mifliken  Bend:  "This  was 
the  first  important  engagement  of  the  war  in  which 
colored  troops  were  under  fire.  These  men  were  very 
raw,  perhaps  all  had  been  enlisted  since  the  beginning 
of  the  siege,  but  they  behaved  well. ' ' 

First  Colored  Regiment, — The  first  colored  regiment 
raised  in  New  Orleans  under  General  Butler,  after 
remaining  in  camp  for  about  six  months,  were  quite 
efficient  in  the  use  of  arms.  It  was  then  ordered  to 
report  to  General  Dwight.  Its  commanding  officer, 
Colonel  Stafford,  was  disabled,  and  was  not  permitted 
to  go  with  the  regiment.  Before  the  regiment  left  the 
officers  assembled  at  the  quarters  of  Colonel  Stafford. 
The  colored  guared  marched  up  to  receive  the  regi- 
mental flags.  Colonel  Stafford  made  a  speech  full  of 
patriotism  and  feeling,  and  concluded  by  saying: 
"Colored  guard,  protect,  defend,  die  for  it,  but  do  not 
surrender  these  flags."  The  reply  of  the  sergeant 
was,  "Colonel,  I  will  bring  back  these  colors  to  you  in 
honor,  or  report  to  God  the  reason  why. ' ' 

Port  Hudson.— At  Port  Hudson,  "the  deeds  of  hero- 
ism performed  by  these  colored  men  were  such  as  the 


THE  NEGRO   IN  THE   CIVIL  WAR.  121 

proudest  white  men  might  emulate.  Their  colors  were 
torn  to  pieces  by  shot,  and  literally  bespattered  by 
blood  and  brains.  The  color-sergeant  of  the  First 
Louisiana,  on  being  mortally  wounded,  hugged  the 
colors  to  his  breast,  when  a  struggle  ensued  between 
the  two  color-corporals  on  each  side  of  him  as  to  who 
should  have  the  honor  of  bearing  the  sacred  standard, 
and  during  this  generous  contention  one  was  seriously 
wounded.  One  black  lieutenant  actually  mounted  the 
enemy's  works  three  or  four  times,  and  in  one  charge 
the  assaulting  party  came  within  fifty  paces  of  them. 
Indeed,  if  only  ordinarily  supported  by  artillery  and 
reserve,  no  one  can  convince  us  that  they  would  not 
have  opened  a  passage  through  the  enemy's  works. 

"Captain  Callioux,  of  the  First  Louisiana,  a  man  so 
black  that  he  actually  prided  himself  on  his  blackness, 
died  the  death  of  a  hero,  leading  on  his  men  in  the 
thickest  of  the  fight.  One  poor  wounded  fellow  came 
along  with  his  arm  shattered  by  a  shell,  and  jauntily 
swinging  it  with  the  other,  as  he  said  to  a  friend  of 
mine:  'Massa,  guess  I  can  fight  no  more.'  I  was  with 
one  of  the  Captains,  looking  after  the  wounded  going  to 
the  rear  of  the  hospital,  when  we  met  one  limping 
towards  the  front.  On  being  asked  where  he  was 
going,  he  said:  'I  have  been  shot  bad  in  the  leg,  capT 
tain,  and  dey  want  me  to  go  to  the  hospital,  but  I  guess 
I  can  gib  'em  some  more  yet. '  I  could  go  on  filling 
your  columns  with  startling  facts  of  this  kind,  but  I 
hope  I  have  told  enough  to  prove  that  we  can  hereafter 
rely  upon  black  arms  as  well  as  white  in  crushing  this 
infernal -rebellion.  I  long  ago  told  you  there  was  an 
army  of  250,000  men  ready  to  leap  forward  in  defense 
of  freedom  at  the  first  call.  You  know  where  to  find 
them,  and  what  they  are  worth. " 


122  PROGRESS   OF  A  RACE. 

"Although  repulsed  in  an  attempt  which,  situated  as 
things  were,  was  all  but  impossible,  these  regiments, 
though  badly  cut  up,  are  still  on  hand,  and  burning  with 
a  passion  ten  times  hotter  from  their  fierce  baptism  of 
blood.  Who  knows  but  that  it  is  a  black  hand  which 
shall  first  plant  the  standard  of  the  republic  upon  the 
doomed  ramparts  of  Port  Hudson. " 

In  the  Mississippi  Valley. — In  many  engagements  of 
the  Mississippi  valley  the  colored  soldiers  won  for  them- 
selves lasting  glory  and  golden  opinions  from  the 
officers  and  men  of  white  organizations. 

The  Battle  of  Wilson's  Wharf.— The  following  ac- 
count-is given  ;  "At  first  the  fight  raged  fiercely  on  the 
left  The  woods  were  riddled  with  bullets;  the  dead 
and  wounded  of  the  rebels  were  taken  away  from  this 
part  of  the  field,  but  I  am  informed  by  one  accustomed 
to  judge,  and  who  went  over  the  fields  today,  that  from 
the  pools  of  blood  and  other  evidences,  the  loss  must 
have  been  severe.  Finding  that  the  left  could  not  be 
broken,  Fitz-Hugh  Lee  hurled  his  cavalry — dismounted 
of  course — upon  the  right.  Steadily  they  came  on, 
through  obstruction,  through  slashing,  past  abattis 
without  wavering".  Here  one  of  the  advantages  of  the 
colored  troops  was  made  apparent.  They  obeyed 
orders,  and  bided  their  time.  When  well  tangled  in 
the  abattis  the  death  warrant,  "Fire,"  went  forth. 
Southern  chivalry  quailed  before  Northern  balls,  though 
fired  by  Negro  hands.  Volley  after  volley  was  rained 
upon  the  superior  by  the  inferior  race,  and  the  chivalry 
broke  and  tried  to  run." 

Petersburg. — This  was  a  stronghold  of  the  Confed- 
eracy. To  dislodge  them  tons  of  powder  were  buried 
near  their  lines.  It  was  to  be  exploded  and  in  the  con- 
sequent confusion  in  the  Confederate  ranks  a  charge 


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124  PROGRESS   OF  A   RACE. 

was  to  be  made  and  capture  their  forces.  Four  thou- 
sand four  hundred  Negro  braves  were  on  hand  to  do 
this  work.  The  refusal  to  allow  them  to  do  so,  many 
believe,  lost  the  day  to  the  Union  army.  Ah !  but  the 
black  braves  that  day  proved  that  they  were  willing  to 
fight,  bleed  and  die  for  their  kindred  .in  chains  so 
cruelly  forged.  Black  men  fell  on  the  very  parapet  of 
the  enemy's  works,  in  a  hand-to-hand  fight  with  their 
white  antagonists.  The  soil  was  saturated  in  the 
blood  of  the  colored  valiants.  When  Petersburg  did 
fall  into  Federal  hands,  and  Richmond  followed  later, 
Negro  soldiers  were  among  the  first  to  enter  the  field 
and  claim  these  cities  in  the  name  of  the  Federal  gov- 
ernment. Close  on  the  fall  of  these  Confederate  cities 
Lee  surrendered  at  Appomatox  under  the  shade  of  the 
old  apple  tree.  Thus  ended  the  war,  leaving  our  brave 
black  heroes  covered  with  glory  crowned  with  imper- 
ishable laurels.  When,  therefore,  the  last  drum  shall 
beat,  the  last  bugle  note  shall  sound,  and  the  roll  call 
of  nations  shall  be  heard,  and  the  names  of  Phillips, 
Leonidas,  Alexander,  Hannibal,  Caesar,  Napoleon  and 
Wellington  are  sounded  on  the  lips  of  the  worshipers 
of  heroes,  with  equal  praise  shall  be  heard  the  name 
of  Attucks,  Peter  Salem,  Captain  Cailloux,  Colonel 
Shaw  the  talented,  and  Toussaint  L'  Overture.  A  race 
with  such  indomitable  courage,  under  such  discourage- 
ments, must  have  under  God  a  future  inspiring  and 
glorious. 

General  Smith  on  Petersburg.— " The  hardest  fight- 
ing was  done  by  the  black  troops.  The  forts  they 
stormed  were  the  worst  of  all.  After  the  affair  was  over 
General  Smith  went  to  thank  them,  and  tell  them  he  was 
proud  of  their  courage  and  dash.  He  said :  'They  can- 
„•  .  not  be  exceeded  as  soldiers,  and  that  hereafter  he 


THE   NEGRO   IN   THE   CIVIL   WAR. 


125 


will  enter  them  in  a  difficult  place  as  readily  as  the 
best.'" 

"The  charge  on  the  advanced  works  was  made  in 
splendid  style,  and  as  the  'dusky  warriors'  stood  shout- 
ing- upon  the  parapet,  General  Smith  decided  that 
'they  would  do,'  and  sent  word  to  storm  the  first 
redoubt.  Steadily  these  troops  moved  on,  led  by 
officers  whose  unostentatious  bravery  is  worthy  of 
emulation.  With  a  shout  and  rousing  cheers  they 
dashed  at  the  redoubt.  Grape  and  canister  were 
hurled  at  them  by  the  infuriated  rebels.  They  grinned 
and  pushed  on,  and  with  a  yell  that  told  the  Southern 
chivalry,  their  doom,  rolled  irresistibly  over  into  the 
work.  The  guns  were  speedily  turned  upon  those  of 
our  'misguided  brethren,'  who  forgot  that  discretion 
was  the  better  part  of  valor.  Another  redoubt  was 
carried  in  the  same  splendid  style,  and  the  Negroes 
have  established  a  reputation  that  they  will  surely 
maintain. 

"Officers  on  General  Hancock's  staff,  as  they  rode  by 
the  redoubt  surrounded  by  a  moat  with  water  in  it, 
over  which  these  Negroes  charged,  admitted  that  its 
capture  was  a  most  gallant  affair.  The  Negroes  bear 
their  wounds  quite  as  pluckily  as  the  white  soldiers. ' ' 

Adjutant  General  L.  Thomas  pays  the  following 
tribute  to  the  Negro  soldiers:  "On  several  occasions 
when  on  the  Mississippi  river,  I  contemplated  writing 
to  you  respecting  the  colored  troops,  and  to  suggest 
that,  as  they  have  been  fully  tested  as  soldiers,  their 
pay  should  be  raised  to  that  of  white  troops,  and  I 
desire  now  to  give  my  testimony  in  their  behalf.  You 
are  aware  that  I  have  been  engaged  in  the  organization 
of  freedmen  for  over  a  year,  and  have  necessarily  been 
thrown  in  contact  with  their  orders. 


126  PROGRESS   OF  A   RACfi. 

Strict  Obedience.— ''The  Negro,  in  a  state  of  slav- 
ery, is  brought  tip  by  the  master  from  early  childhood 
to  strict  obedience  and  to  obey  implicitly  the  dictates 
of  the  white  man,  and  they  are  thus  led  to  believe  that 
they  are  an  inferior  race.  Now,  when  organized  into 
troops,  they  carry  their  habits  of  obedience  with  them, 
and  their  officers,  being  entirely  white  men.  the  Negroes 
promptly  obey  them. 

Important  Addition. — "A  regiment  is  thus  rapidly 
brought  into  a  state  of  discipline.  They  are  a  religious 
people — another  high  quality  for  making  good  soldiers. 
They  are  a  musical  people,  and  thus  readily  learn  to 
march  and  accurately  perform  their  maneuvers.  They 
take  pride  in  being  elevated  as  soldiers,  and  keep  them- 
selves, as  their  camp  grounds,  neat  and  clean.  This  I 
know  from  special  inspection,  two  of  my  staff  officers 
being  constantly  on  inspecting  duty.  They  have  proved 
a  most  important  "addition  to  our  forces,  enabling  the 
Generals  in  active  operations  to  take  a  large  force  of 
white  troops  into  the  field ;  and  now  brigades  of  blacks 
are  placed  with  the  whites.  The  forts  erected  at  the 
important  points  on  the  river  are  nearly  all  garrisoned 
by  blacks — artillery  regiments  raised  for  the  purpose, 
say  at  Paducah  and  Columbus,  Kentucky ;  Memphis, 
Tennessee ;  Vicksburg  and  Natchez,  Mississippi,  and 
most  of  the  works  around  New  Orleans. 

Heavy  Guns. — *  *  Experience  proves  that  they  manage 
the  heavy  guns  very  well.  Their  fighting  qualities 
have  also  been  fully  tested  a  number  of  times,  and  I 
have  yet  to  hear  of  the  first  case  where  they  did  not 
fully  stand  up  to  their  work.  I  passed  over  the  ground 
where  the  First  Louisiana  made  the  gallant  charge  at 
Port  Hudson,  by  far  the  stronger  part  of  the  rebel 
works.  The  wonder  is  that  so  many  have  made  their 


GENERAL  EDWARD  JOHNSON  AND  G.  H.  STEWART  AS  PRISONERS 
IN  CHARGE  OF  A  FORMER  SLAVE. 

127 


128  PROGRESS   OF  A   RACE. 

escape.  At  Milliken's  Bend,  where  I  had  three  incom- 
plete regiments — one  without  arms  until  the  day  prev- 
ious to  the  attack — greatly  superior  numbers  of  the 
rebels  charged  furiously  up  to  the  very  breastwork. 
The  Negroes  met  the  enemy  on  the  ramparts,  and  both 
sides  freely  used  the  bayonet,  a  most  rare  occurrence 
in  warfare,  as  one  or  the  other  party  gives  way  before 
coming  in  contact  with  the  steel.  The  rebels  were 
defeated  with  heavy  loss.  The  bridge  at  Moscow,  on 
the  line  of  railroad  from  Memphis  to  Corinth,  was 
defended  by  one  small  regiment  of  blacks.  A  cavalry 
attack  of  three  times  their  number  was  made,  the 
blacks  defeating  them  in  three  charges  made  by  the 
rebels. ' ' 

General  S.  0.  Armstrong,  who  for  years  was  at  the 
head  of  Hampton  Institute,  says:  "Two  and  one-half 
years'  service  with  Negro  soldiers  (half  a  year  as 
captain  and  major  in  the  One  Hundred  and  Twentieth 
New  York  Volunteers)  as  lieutenant-colonel  and 
colonel  of  the  Ninth  and  Eighth  regiments  of  the 
United  States  colored  troops,  convinced  me  of  the  excel- 
lent qualities  and  capacities  of  the  freedmen.  Their 
quick  response  to  good  treatment,  and  to  discipline, 
was  a  constant  surprise.  Their  tidiness,  devotion  to 
their  duty  and  their  leaders,  their  dash  and  daring  in 
battle,  and  ambition  to  improve,  even  studying  their 
spelling  books  under  fire,  showed  that  slavery  was  a 
false, though  doubtless  for  the  time  being  an  educative, 
condition,  and  that  they  deserve  as  good  a  chance  as 
any  people. 

A  Cavalry  Force. — "A  cavalry  force  of  three  hun- 
dred and  fifty  attacked  three  hundred  rebel  cavalry 
near  the  Big  Black  with  signal  success,  a  number  of 
prisoners  being  taken  and  marched  to  Vicksburg. 


THE    NEGRO   IN   THE  CIVIL   WAfc.  129 

Forrest  attacked  Paducah  with  7,500  men.  The  garri- 
son was  between  500  and  600,  nearly  400  being1  colored 
troops  recently  raised.  What  troops  could  have  done 
better?  So,  too;  they  fought  well  at  Fort  Pillow  till 
overpowered  by  greatly  superior  numbers.  The 
above  enumerated  cases  seem  to  be  sufficient  to  de- 
monstrate the  value  of  the  colored  troops. ' ' 

Few  of  Many  Tributes. — These  are  but  few  of  the 
many  tributes  that  generals  and  white  leaders  have 
cheerfully  given  to  the  loyalty,  valor  and  bravery  of 
the  colored  troops  during  the  war.  George  Williams 
truly  says:  "No  officer,  whose  privilege  it  was  to  com- 
mand or  observe  the  conduct  of  these  troops,  has  ever 
hesitated  to  give  a  full  and  cheerful  endorsement  of 
their  worth  as  men,  their  loyalty  -as  Americans,  and 
their  eminent  qualifications  for  the  duties  and  dangers 
of  military  life.  No  history  of  the  war  has  ever  been 
written  without  mentioning  the  patience,  endurance, 
fortitude,  and  heroism  of  the  Negro  soldiers  who 
prayed,  wept,  fought,  bled  and  died  for  the  preserva- 
tion of  the  Union  of  the  United  States  of  America. " 

Items  of  Interest. — History  records  the  fact  that 
during  the  late  rebellion  the  Negro  soldiers  partici- 
pated in  more  than  four  hundred  engagements. 

There  were  between  four  and  five  hundred  Negro 
soldiers  who  were  engaged  in  the  battle  of  New 
Orleans. 

About  6,000  Negroes  were  connected  in  different 
ways  with  the  Confederate  army. 

The  first  colored  regiment  to  enter  the  services  of 
the  rebellion  was  the  Fifty-fourth  Massachusetts  Vol- 
unteers. 

In  Present  Service. — At  present  time  there  are  four 
regiments  of  colored  men  in  the  regular  service,  two 

9  Progress 


130  PROGRESS    OF   A    RACE. 

of  cavalry  and  two  of  infantry.  They  are  commanded 
by  white  officers  and  have  done  very  good  service  in 
Indian  warfare.  Their  constitutions  endure  the  heat 
of  the  Southern  states  much  better  than  those  of  the 
white  men,  and  they  have  been  particularly  valuable 
along  the  Mexican  border. 

In  Military  Academy.— James  Smith,  of  Columbia, 
S.  C. ,  was  the  first  colored  student  to  enter  the  U.  S. 
military  academy  at  New  York.  Up  to  date  there 
were  ten  colored  cadets  admitted,  of  whom  three 
graduated. 

Colored  Soldiers  of  Georgia. — The  colored  soldiers 
of  the  state  are  pleading  for  proper  aid  from  the  state 
they  have  enlisted  to  defend.  They  deserve  help, 
if  the  following  letter  be  true,  which  was  written 
by  one  of  the  oldest  colored  soldiers  in  the  state. 

"The  colored  soldiers  of  Georgia  have  maintained 
their  military  organizations  for  twenty-six  years.  At 
the  re-organization  of  the  state  militia  in  1888,  there 
were  forty-seven  colored  companies  of  infantry  uni- 
formed and  equipped  by  themselves  at  a  cost  of  not 
less  than  $25,000.  Besides  this,  they  furnished  their 
own  armories,  fuel  and  lights,  the  cost  of  which,  added 
to  the  above,  would  make  the  amount  spent  by  the 
colored  soldiers  themselves  for  their  support  and  for 
an  opportunity  to  assist  in  defending  the  state  for  a 
period  of  twenty- six  years,  more  than  $95,000.  This 
money  has  come  from  the  poor  or  average  colored  citi- 
zen, as  the  majority  of  colored  soldiers  come  from  that 
class  of  our  people.  Though  these  men  are  Georgians, 
they  love  their  name,  they  love  their  honor,  and  they 
are  willing  to  lay  down  their  lives  in  the  defense  of 
her  soil.  All  they  ask  at  the  hands  of  those  in  power 
is  to  treat  them  as  citizens  and  as  soldiers. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

THE    NEGRO   SOLDIER    IN    THE     CUBAN    INSURRECTION    AND 
SPANISH-AMERICAN    WAR. 

Written  expressly  for  this  book  by  Prof.  W.  H.  Crogman,  A.  M. 

The  persistent  efforts  of  Spain  to  retain  under  her 
cruel,  corrupt,  and  inefficient  government  the  fertile 
island  of  Cuba  have  again,  in  these  closing  years  of  the 
nineteenth  century,  brought  to  light  the  splendid  qual- 
ities of  the  Negro  soldier.  Of  limited  education,  poorly 
armed,  poorly  clad,  and  poorly  fed,  he  has  shared  the 
toils,  the  perils,  the  privations  of  his  white  compatriots, 
and  has  exhibited  such  fortitude  and  loyalty,  such 
unswerving  devotion  to  the  cause  of  Cuban  liberty 
as  to  win  unstinted  praise  even  from  those  cherishing 
strong  prejudice  against  his  race.  Whatever  may  be 
the  future  of  Cuba,  impartial  history  will  ascribe  to  the 
Negro  no  small  part  of  the  sacrifice  made  for  her  de- 
liverance. Both  as  a  slave  and  as  a  freedman  his  sym- 
pathies were  with  the  insurgents.  In  the  first  revolu- 
tion, beginning  October  10,  1868,  and  lasting  ten  years, 
there  were  thousands  of  blacks  under  the  insurgent 
standard.  It  is  reasonable  to  believe,  that  in  this  first 
uprising  they  imbibed  the  martial  spirit,  and  acquired 
that  training  and  discipline  which  made  them  so  effi- 
cient in  the  last  struggle  to  throw  off  the  Spanish  yoke. 
It  has  been  officially  stated  that  of  the  thirty  thousand 
Cubans  recently  under  arms  two-fifths  were  Negroes, 
commonly  so  called. 

131 


132  PROGRESS   OF    A    RACfe. 

Leadership. — Not  only  soldiers,  however,  but  Negro 
leaders  of  conspicuous  ability  were  brought  to  light  by 
the  recent  Cuban  insurrection.  Prominent  among 
these  may  be  mentioned  Flor  Crombet,  a  dashing  lead- 
er, a  stubborn  fighter,  unflinching  in  his  loyalty  to 
Cuba  as  he  was  unrelenting  in  his  hostility  to  Spain. 

Equally  brave,  and  more  of  a  military  genius,  per- 
haps, was  Quintin  Bandera,  a  Negro  of  unmixed  blood. 
Indeed,  there  is  much  of  romance  in  the  life  of  this 
man.  Hon.  Amos  J.  Cummings,  one  of  the  five  con- 
gressmen invited  by  the  New  York  Journal  to  visit 
Cuba,  and  report  the  state  of  things  there,  had  this  to 
say  about  Quintin  Bandera,  in  his  speech  before  Con- 
gress, Friday,  April,  29,  1898: 

"Quintin  Bandera  means  'fifteen  flags. '  The  appel- 
lation was  given  to  Bandera  because  he  had  captured 
fifteen  Spanish  ensigns.  He  is  a  coal-black  Negro,  of 
remarkable  military  ability.  He  was  a  slave  of  Que- 
sada.  With  others  of  Maceo's  staff,  he  was  sent  to 
prison  at  Ceuta.  While  in  prison  the  daughter  of  a 
Spanish  officer  fell  in  love  with  him.  Through  her  aid, 
he  escaped  in  a  boat  to  Gibraltar,  where  he  became  a 
British  subject  and  married  his  preserver.  She  is  of 
Spanish  and  Moorish  blood,  and  is  said  to  be  a  lady  of 
education  and  refinement.  She  taught  her  husband 
to  read  and  write,  and  takes  great  pride  in  his  achieve- 
ments." 

Antonio  Maceo.— Of  all  the  leaders  produced  by  the 
Cuban  war  the  most  colossal  and  imposing  figure  is 
Antonio  Maceo.  Says  Mr.  Cummings  of  him : 

* '  He  was  as  swift  on  the  march  as  either  Sheridan  or 
Stonewall  Jackson,  and  equally  as  prudent  and  wary. 
He  had  flashes  of  military  genius  when  a  crisis  arose. 
It  was  to  his  sudden  inspiration  that  Martinez  Campos 


NEGRO  SOLDIER  IN  THE  SPANISH-AMERICAN  WAR.    133 

owed  his  final  defeat  at  Coliseo,  giving  the  patriots  the 
opportunity  to  overrun  the  richest  of  the  western 
provinces  and  to  carry  the  war  to  the  very  gates  of 
Havana." 


GEN.    ANTONIO    MACEO. 


Speaking  of  his  attachment  to  the  cause  of  Cuban 
liberty,  the  same  author  says: 

'*  No  one  has  ever  questioned  his  patriotism.  Money 
could  not  buy  him ;  promises  could  not  deceive  him. 


134  PROGRESS    OF    A    RACE. 

His  devotion  to  Cuban  freedom  was  like  the  devotion 
of  a  father  to  his  family.  All  his  energies,  physical 
and  intellectual,  were  given  freely  to  his  country." 

It  is  well  known  that  of  all  the  men  arrayed  against 
them  the  Spaniards  dreaded  Maceo  most.  Through 
emissaries  they  made  repeated  efforts  to  have  him 
poisoned ;  but  without  success.  When  finally  the  news 
reached  them  of  his  fall  by  Spanish  biillets,  their  joy 
was  indescribable  and  their  hope  of  success  corre- 
spondingly raised. 

The  greatness  of  this  man  as  a  leader,  however,  ap- 
parent as  it  was  in  his  life,  became  even  more  so  in  his 
death.  His  fall  sent  a  shock  throughout  the  civilized 
world.  Men  felt  instinctively  that  the  Cuban  cause 
had  lost  its  mightiest  chieftain,  its  loftiest  source  of 
inspiration.  It  is  doubtful,  indeed,  whether  the  death 
of  any  man  within  the  century  produced  a  sorrow  more 
general  and  profound.  So  sincere  was  the  regret  that 
for  weeks,  nay,  almost  months,  people  would  not  be- 
lieve that  the  daring  leader  was  gone.  They  said  it 
was  only  a  ruse  he  was  practicing  on  the  Spaniards, 
and  at  some  moment  when  they  least  expected  him  he 
would  strike  like  a  thunderbolt.  Alas!  that  moment 
was  never  to  come.  His  death,  however,  won  uni- 
versal sympathy  for  the  Cuban  cause.  So  far,  then,  as 
he  was  personally  concerned,  it  was  as  well  for  him  to 
die  when  he  did  as  to  die  later.  He  had  shown  to  the 
world  what  was  in  his  heart  and  brain;  he  had  written 
his  name  high  upon  the  scroll  of  the  world's  heroes; 
he  had  done  this,  too,  not  for  vain-glory,  not  for  self 
aggrandizement,  not  for  the  purpose  of  crushing  and 
humiliating  his  fellow-men;  but  for  the  purpose  of 
rescuing  a  suffering  people  from  a  hideous  and  op- 
pressive tyranny. 


NEGRO  SOLDIER   IN  THE  SPANISH-AMERICAN   WAR.     135 

The  Negro  Soldier  in  the  Spanish-American  War. 

— It  is  an  historic  fact  that  reflects  no  little  credit  on  the 
Negro,  that  on  the  very  verge  of  hostilities  with  Spain 
the  first  regiment  ordered  to  the  front  was  the  Twenty- 
fourth  United  States  regulars.  This  colored  regiment, 
like  all  the  regiments  of  its  kind,  had,  in  time  of  peace, 
maintained  in  the  West  a  splendid  record,  not  only  for 
soldierly  efficiency,  but  for  manly  and  respectful  con- 
duct. Wherever  quartered  in  that  section  of  country 
the  Negro  regiments  were  liked,  and  in  more  than  one 
instance  did  the  citizens-  petition  for  their  retention 
when  they  were  about  to  be  moved,  preferring  their 
presence  to  that  of  white  troops.  It  is  safe  to  say,  per- 
haps, that  the  best  behaved  men  in  times  of  peace  are 
the  best  and  most  reliable  men  in  times  of  war.  Char- 
acter always  tells.  The  ruffian  and  the  rowdy  are 
brave  under  favorable  conditions,  when  the  odds  are 
on  their  side.  It  requires  courageous  men  to  face 
coolly  all  sorts  of  dangers  and  difficulties.  The  short 
war  with  Spain  has  shown  Negroes  to  be  just  such 
men.  From  no  service  have  the  black  soldiers  shrunk. 
At  no  time  did  they  show  the  white  feather.  With 
far  less  to  inspire  them  they  have  shown  themselves  oa 
every  occasion  not  one  whit  inferior  to  their  white 
comrades  in  arms.  Nay,  some  are  inclined  to  give 
them  the  palm  for  bravery  displayed  in  the  recent  war 
around  Santiago  and  at  other  stubbornly-disputed 
points.  A  correspondent  of  the  New  York  Sun — a 
paper  quick,  by  the  way,  to  recognize  the  merits  of 
the  black  troops — describing  the  scenes  on  that  fatal 
Friday  at  Santiago,  said : 

44  While  the  proportion  of  colored  men  wounded  has 
been  large,  by  their  courage  and  supreme  cheerfulness 
they  have  really  carried  off  the  palm  for  heroism," 


136 


NEGRO  SOLDIER  IN  THE  SPANISH- AMERICAN  WAR.    137 

Here  is  what  one  of  the  wounded  Rough  Riders,  Ken- 
neth Robinson,  has  to  say  about  the  black  soldiers. 
Robinson  is  lying  in  one  of  the  tents  here  suffering 
from  a  shot  through  his  chest.  A  pair  of  underdraws 
and  one  sock,  the  costurie  in  which  he  arrived  from 
the  front,  is  all  that  he  has  to  his  name  at  present. 
On  the  next  cot  to  him  lies  an  immense  Negro,  who 
has  been  simply  riddled  with  bullets,  but  is  still  able 
to  crack  a  smile  and  even  to  hum  a  tune  occasionally. 
Bet\veen  him  and  the  Calumet  man  there  has  sprung 
up  a  friendship.  'I'll  tell  you  what  it  is/  said  Robin- 
son this  morning,  *  Without  any  disregard  to  my  own 
regiment  I  want  to  say  that  the  whitest  men  in  this 
fight  have  been  the  black  ones.  At  all  events  they 
have  been  the  best  friends  that  the  Rough  Riders  have 
had,  and  every  one  of  us,  from  Colonel  Roosevelt 
down,  appreciates  it.  When  our  men  were  being 
mown  down  to  right  and  left  in  that  charge  up  the  hill 
it  was  the  black  cavalry  men  who  were  the  first  to  carry 
our  wounded  away,  and  during  that  awful  day  and 
night  that  I  lay  in  the  field  hospital,  waiting  for  a 
chance  to  get  down  here,  it  was  two  big  colored  men, 
badly  wounded  themselves,  who  kept  my  spirits  up. 
Why,  in  camp  every  night  before  the  fight  the  colored 
soldiers  used  to  come  over  and  serenade  Colonels 
Wood  and  Roosevelt;  and  weren't  they  just  tickled  to 
death  about  it f  The  last  night  before  I  was  wounded 
a  whole  lot  of  them  came  over,  and  when  Colonel  Roose- 
velt made  a  little  speech  thanking  them  for  their  songs, 
one.  big1  sergeant  got  up  and  said:  'It's  all  right,  col- 
onel; we '  se"  all'  rough  riders  now. '  " 

From  another  source  we  take  the  following: 
"I  was  standing  near  Captain  Capron  and  Hamilton 
Fish,"  said  the  corporal  to  the  Associated  Press  corre- 


138  PROGRESS    OF    A    RACE. 

spondent  tonight,  "and  saw  them  shot  down.  They 
were  with  the  Rough  Riders  and  ran  into  an  ambush, 
though  they  had  been  warned  of  the  danger.  Captain 
Capron  and  Fish  were  shot  while  leading  a  charge. 
If  it  had  not  been  for  the  Negro  cavalry,  the  Rough 
Riders  would  have  been  exterminated.  I  am  not  a 
Negro  lover.  My  father  fought  with  Mosby's  rangers, 
and  I  was  born  in  the  South,  but  the  Negroes  saved 
that  fight,  and  the  day  will  come  when  General  Shafter 
will  give  them  credit  for  their  bravery." 

A  correspondent  of  the  Atlanta  Evening  Journal, 
July  30,  1898,  has  this  to  say: 

'  *  I  have  been  asked  repeatedly  since  my  return  about 
what  kind  of  soldiers  the  Negroes  make.  The  Negroes 
make  fine  soldiers.  Physically  the  colored  troops  are  the 
best  men  in  the  army,  especially  the  men  in  the  Ninth 
and  Tenth  cavalry.  Every  man  of  them  is  a  giant.  The 
Negroes  in  the  Twenty-fourth  and  Twenty-fifth  infan- 
try, too,  are  all  big  fellows.  These  colored  regiments 
fought  as  well,  according  to  General  Sumner,  in  whose 
command  they  were,  as  the  white  regiments.  What  I 
saw  of  them  in  battle  confirmed  what  General  Sumner 
said.  The  Negroes  seemed  to  be  absolutely  without 
fear,  and  certainly  no  troops  advanced  more  promptly 
when  the  order  was  given  than  they." 

In  the  course  of  the  war,  however,  there  came  to  the 
colored  troops  a  severer  test  than  that  of  facing  Mauser 
bullets.  A  yellow  fever  hospital  was  to  be  cleansed 
and  yellow  fever  sufferers  were  to  be  nursed.  An 
order  went  forth  from  General  Miles  that  a  regiment 
be  detailed  for  such  service.  "In  response  to  this 
order,"  said  Mr.  Robert  B.  Cramer  in  the  Atlanta 
Constitution,  Tuesday,  August  16,  1898,  "the  Twenty- 
fourth  infantry,  made  up  entirely  of  colored  men,  left 


NEGRO  SOLDfER  IN  THE  SPANISH-AMERICAN  WAR.    139 

their  trenches  at  night,  and  at  dawn  the  next  morning 
they  had  reported  to  Dr.  LaGarde.  An  hour  later  they 
were  put  at  work,  and  before  sunset  again  the  lines  of 
their  tents  were  straightened  out,  the  debris  of  the 
burned  buildings  was  cleared  away,  the  waterworks 
were  put  in  operation,  and  the  entire  camp  became  a 
place  in  which  a  sick  man  stood  at  least  a  fighting- 
chance  of  getting  well." 

"It  was  peculiarly  appropriate,"  continues  Mr, 
Cramer,  "that  the  Twenty- fourth  should  be  selected 
for  that  place,  because  it  was  one  of  unquestionable 
honor,  and  at  that  time  there  was  nothing  that  could 
be  done  for  the  colored  troops  in  paying  tribute  to  their 
work  as  soldiers  that  ought  not  to  have  been  done.  In 
all  the  disputes  that  historians  will  indulge  in  as  to  who 
did  and  who  did  not  do  their  duty  at  the  siege  of  Santi- 
ago no  one  will  ever  question  the  service  of  the  dark- 
skinned  regulars,  who  from  the  time  the  Tenth  fought 
with  the  Rough  Riders  in  the  first  day's  fight,  until 
the  Twenty-fifth  infantry  participated  in  the  actual 
surrender,  did  their  whole  duty  as  soldiers.  All  that 
can  be  said  in  praise  of  any  regiment  that  participated 
in  the  campaign  can  be  said  of  those  regiments  which 
were  made  up  of  colored  troops,  and  I  am  glad  to 
quote  General  Wheeler  as  saying : 

4 The  only  thing  necessary  in  handling  a  colored 
regiment  is  to  have  officers  over  them  who  are  equally 
courageous.  Give  them  the  moral  influence  of  good 
leadership  and  they  are  as  fine  soldiers  as  exist  any- 
where in  the  world.  Put  them  where  you  want  them, 
point  out  what  you  want  them  to  shoot  at  and  they  will 
keep  on  shooting  until  either  their  officers  tell  them  .to 
stop  or  they  are  stopped  by  the  enemy. ' 

Such  testimony  from  a  hard-fighting  ex-Confederate 


140  PROGRESS    OF    A    RACE. 

general  ought  to  be  sufficient  to  establish  the  merits  of 
the  Negro  as  a  soldier;  but  it  may  be  well,  as  there  is 
evidence  varied  and  abundant,  and  from  high  author- 
ity to  hear  from  others.  Mr.  George  Kennan  of  Sibe- 
rian prison  fame,  special  correspondent  for  the  Outlook, 
wrote  in  the  issue  of  August  13: 

"I  have  not,  as  yet,  the  information  necessary  to  do 
anything  like  justice  to  the  regiments  that  particularly 
distinguished  themselves  in  Friday's  battle;  but  upon 
the  basis  of  the  information  I  already  have,  I  do  not 
hesitate  to  call  especial  attention  to  the  splendid 
behavior  of  the  colored  troops.  It  is  the  testimony  of 
all  who  saw  them  under  fire,  that  they  fought  with  the 
utmost  courage,  coolness,  and  determination,  and  Col- 
onel Roosevelt  said  to  a  squad  of  them  in  the  trenches, 
in  my  presence,  that  he  never  expected  to  have,  and 
could  not  ask  to  have  better  men  beside  him  in  a  hard 
fight.  If  soldiers  come  up  to  Colonel  Roosevelt's 
standard  of  courage,  their  friends  have  no  reason  to 
feel  ashamed  of  them.  His  commendation  is  equiva- 
lent to  a  medal  of  honor  for  conspicuous  gallantry, 
because,  in  the  slang  of  the  camp,  he  himself  is  'a 
fighter  from  'way  back. '  I  can  testify,  furthermore, 
from  my  own  personal  observation  in  the  field  hospital 
of  the  Fifth  army  corps  Saturday  and  Sunday  night 
that;  the  colored  regulars  who  were  brought  in  there 
displayed  extraordinary  fortitude  and  self  control. 
There  were  a  great  many  of  them,  but  I  can  not- re- 
member to  have  heard  a  groan  or  a  complaint  from,  a 
single  man."  •  -V,  -  -,--•: 

His  Patriotism. — At  the  outbreak  of  the  war  .with 
Spain,  there  were  not  wanting  those  .who  questioned 
the  patriotism  of  the  Negro.  To  all  such  skeptics  we 
commend  the  following  extract  from  the  organ  of  the 
American  Missionary  Association : 


142  PROGRESS    OF    A    RACE. 

"Never  can  the  students  of  Talladega  college  forget 
the  commencement  of  1898,  when  so  many  brave  men 
left  their  cherished  plans  to  engage  in  the  war  with" 
Spain.  Those  laughter-loving  boys,  earnest  in  study, 
but  full  of  fun  and  careless  sometimes,  as  boys  will  be 
— one  hardly  knew  them  when  the  war  spirit  rose  and 
they  stood  in  line  with  the  new,  steady  light  of  resolu- 
tion shining  in  their  dark  eyes.  In  1860  yoimg  men  of 
Anglo-Saxon  blood  left  that  same  building  to  fight 
against  the  Union.  One  of  those  young  men,  now 
governor  of  the  state,  thirty-eight  years  later,  tele- 
graphs to  the  same  school  asking  Negroes  to  defend 
the  same  government,  and  they  cheerfully  respond. 
Is  not  this  a  revolution  of  the  wheel  of  time? 

The  governor's  telegram  came  Wednesday,  almost 
two  weeks  before  commencement.  All  volunteers 
were  prompt,  having  completed  satisfactorily  the  work 
of  the  year  with  the  exception  of  the  closing  exercises. 

Thirty  in  all  volunteered,  three  or  four  of  whom 
were  not  students,  a  third  of  this  number  being  unable 
to  pass  the  severe  physical  test.  A  farewell  meeting 
was  held  in  the  chapel,  and  the  young  soldiers  told  in 
stirring  words  the  motives  that  led  them  to  offer  their 
lives-  to  their  country ;  their  resolve  to  fight  for  the 
freedom  of  bleeding  Cuba,  their  love  of  the  Stars  and 
Stripes  in  spite  of  the  wrongs  they  themselves  had 
suffered,  their  strong  desire  to  show  that  Negroes  could 
not  only  live  and  work,  but  die,  like  men.  Many 
earnest  appeals  were  made  for  prayers,  that  they  might 
never  turn  their  backs  to  their  enemies,  nor  yield  to 
the  temptations  of  camp  life.  At  last  a  quiet  little 
woman  with  an  earnest  face  arose  and  told  in  trem- 
bling tones  her  determination  to  go  as  nurse,  if  she 
could  find  an  opportunity.  She  was  called  to  the  plat- 


NEGRO  SOLDIER  IN  THE  SPANISH- AMERICAN  WAR.     14$ 

form  and  it  was  beautiful  to  see  the  reverence  with 
which  the  tall,  young  fellows  gathered,  about  her. 

Talladega  college  had  reason  to  be  proud  of  her 
sons  as  they  marched  to  the  station  with  a  flag  and  a 
band,  and  went  off  with  a  ringing  cheer.  Nor  were 
her  daughters  wanting;  their  hearts  were  aching,  but 
their  faces  dressed  in  smiles  as  they  sent  their  brothers 
away  as  patriotically  as  those  of  fairer  hue. 

The  Talladega  students  have  not  been  permitted  to 
meet  any  Spaniards  in  battle,  but  their  record  in  camp 
at  Mobile  has  been  true  to  their  promises.  They  have 
shown  to  every  one  the  advantage  of  education.  Their 
officers  prize  them  highly,  and  the  rough,  ignorant 
men  who  are  their  comrades,  have  felt  their  influence, 
so  that  the  governor  has  publicly  commended  their 
behavior. ' ' 

Commenting  on  the  above,  the  writer  says : 

"Probably  no  institution  in  the  East  sent  as  large  a 
percentage  of  student  soldiers  to  bear  the  flag  of  our 
common  country  to  victory  as  did  our  missionary 
schools.  Our  students  have  not  been  taught  that  war 
is  glory.  It  was  conscience  with  them.  They  went 
as  deliverers  from  oppression  and  saw  their  opportunity 
to  prove  their  devotion  and  gratitude  to  the  country 
for  their  own  deliverance.  They  have  made  their 
record. ' ' 

Surely  this  is  very  refreshing,  especially  just  now 
when  a  certain  class  of  persons  are  endeavoring  to 
deprecate  Negro  education,  or  at  least  to  confine  it  to 
manual  training,  as  best  suited  to  the  sphere  in  which 
he  is  to  move,  a  proposition,  we  may  add,  as  absurd  as 
any  that  could  be  propounded  by  enlightened  men 
living  under  a  republican  form  of  government.  Von 
Moltke  attributed  his  success  at  Sadowa  to  the 


144  PROGRESS    Oi'A    A    KACIi. 

influence  of  the  Prussian  schoolmaster,  and  Wellington 
thought  that  the  battle  of  Waterloo  was  first  won  on 
the  cricket  field  at  Rugby.  Evidently  a  machine  is  a 
good  thing,  but  a  thinking  machine  is  better.  What 
the  Negro  needs  is  thought  power,  and  that  kind  of 
education  which  will  develop  this  power  in  him  will  fit 
him  not  only  for  the  best  mechanic,  but  for  the  best 
soldier  and  most  efficient  citizen. 

In  closing  this  chapter  we  would  add  that  we  have  by 
no  means  exhausted  the  evidence  in  favor  of  the 
Negro  soldier;  but  have  presented  enough  to  show 
that  he  has  won  universal  admiration  and  respect, 
and  is  entitled  to  the  generous  consideration  and 
gratitude  of  the  whole  country. 

Negro  Officers. — At  the  beginning  of  the  war  there 
was  but  one  Negro  commissioned  officer,  Major 
Charles  Young,  a  graduate  of  West  Point.  The  major 
is  a  Kentuckian  by  birth,  and  though  yet  a  young  man 
has  distinguished  himself  in  several  responsible  posi- 
tions. After  graduation  he  was  assigned  to  the  Tenth 
cavalry.  He  served  also  in  the  Ninth;  but  was  sub- 
sequently appointed  by  President  Cleveland  instructor 
in  military  science  at  Wilberforce  University,  Ohio. 
He  is  now  Major  of  the  Ninth  battalion,  Ohio  National 
Volunteers,  appointed  to  this  position  by  Governor 
Bu^hnell. 

Wfth  the  opening  of  the  war  and  the  -enlistment  of 
Negro  troops  there  naturally  arose  among  them  a 
demand  for  Negro  officers.  The  country,  however  was 
not  prepared  to  grant  this.  Doubts  were  expressed, 
perhaps  reasonably,  as  to  the  ability  of  the  Negro  to 
lead.  The  newspapers,  especially  the  class  of  them 
that  feel  it  their  religious  duty  to  oppose  everything 
looking  towards  the  promotion  of  a  Negro,  declared 


MAJOR    CHARLES    YOUNG. 
145 


10  Progress. 


146  PROGRESS    OF    A    RACE. 

that  he  was  fundamentally  and  eternally  unfitted  for 
leadership.  There  was,  however,  as  there  always  is, 
a  thoughtful  minority  who  espoused  the  other  side  of 
the  question.  Prominent  among  these  should  be 
mentioned  Gen.  Thomas  J.  Morgan. 

"There  was  no  better  fighting  done  during  the  civil 
war,"  says  this  old-time  friend  of  the  colored  people, 
"than  was  done  by  some  of  the  Negro  troops.  With 
my  experience,  in  command  of  5,000  Negro  soldiers, 
I  would  on  the  whole  prefer,  I  think,  the  command  of 
a  corps  of  Negro  troops  to  that  of  a  corps  of  white 
troops.  With  the  magnificent  record  of  their  fighting 
qualities  on  many  a  hard-contested  field,  it  is  not 
unreasonable  to  ask  that  a  still  further  opportunity 
shall  be  extended  to  them  in  commissioning  them  as 
officers  as  well  as  enlisting  them  as  soldiers. ' ' 

It  is  encouraging,  however,  to  notice  at  this  point, 
that,  notwithstanding  the  opposition  to  the  appoint- 
ment of  Negro  officers,  the  commissioned  officers  of 
this  race  now  number  considerably  over  one  hundred. 
They  rank  from  second-lieutenant  up  to  colonel. 
This  much  inside  of  a  brief  period  of  three  months. 

Governor  Tanner,  of  Illinois,  addressing  a  volunteer 
regiment  of  that  state,  said : 

"I  propose,  my  fellow-citizens,  to  be  the  first  man  in 
this  broad  land — the  first  governor  of  the  United  States, 
to  offer  this  full  measure  of  citizenship  to  the  African 
race,  not  only  to  enlist  a  regiment  of  volunteer  soldiers, 
but  to  officer  that  regiment,  from  colonel  down,  with 
colored  men.  Then  if  upon  the  field  of  conflict, 
whether  it  be  upon  the  soil  of  the  United  States,  the 
island  of  Cuba,  Porto  Rico,  or  the  Philippines,  or  upon 
the  soil  of  that  decrepit  nation,  you  win  victory,  all  the 
glory  of  it  will  be  to  your  officers  and  your  race." 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

MORAL  AND  SOCIAL    ADVANCEMENT. 

Hon.  Frederick  Douglass  once  said  in  a  great  pub- 
lic meeting  in  New  York:  "The  colored  race  will  not 
crawl  in  the  dirt  forever.  It  is  honorable  to  do  white- 
washing, but  there  is  no  reason  why  my  people  should 
do  that  and  nothing  else.  The  day  will  come  in  which 
they  will  be  found  in  all  pursuits,  achieving  distinction 
and  showing  capabilities  which  they  were  never  sup- 
posed to  possess.  The  destiny  of  the  colored  race  is  in 
their  own  hands,  they  must  bear  and  suffer,  they  must 
toil  and  be  patient,  they  must  carve  their  own  fortunes, 
and  they  will  do  it. ' ' 

Statement  Verified. — Thirty-five  years  have  gone 
since  the  shackles  of  the  slave  were  broken.  Is  the 
truth  of  Mr.  Douglass'  statement  being  verified?  Look 
at  the  colored  race  of  that  time,  grossly  ignorant,  desti- 
tute of  clothing,  without  homes,  without  name,  perse- 
cuted, forced  to  bear  much  on  account  of  the  prejudices 
against  color.  This  despised  race  to-day  after  so  few 
years  has  made  progress  such  as  history  nowhere  else 
records.  Although  much  remains  to  be  done,  yet  to- 
day we  find  the  Negro  recognized  as  a  man,  having  the 
sympathy  and  respect  of  all,  filling  important  and  hon- 
orable positions  throughout  the  land ;  greatly  improved 
and  exalted  in  his  home  life ;  recognizing  that  he  has  a 
part  to  do  in  the  elevation  of  his  race,  aiming  at  the 
highest  success,  and  determined  to  stand  among  the 
best  citizens  and  the  most  useful  members  of  society. 
He  is  determined  that  there  shall  be  no  better  schools 
than  his  own,  no  grander  statesmen,  no  more  success- 

147 


148  PROGRESS  OP  A  RACE. 

ful  business  men,  none  better  known  in  the  professional 
life,  no  happier  homes,  no  more  cultivated  women, 
none  better,  more  moral,  upright  and  righteous  than 
his  own.  Look  at  that  picture  and  then  at  this,  and  the 
fact  that  the  Negro  is  rapidly  rising  will  dawn  at  once 
upon  the  most  skeptical  of  minds. 

Hopeless  Condition. — Prof.  Bowen  says :  "  When  the 
famous  edict  of  freedom  went  forth  on  January  i,  1863, 
the  Negro,  instead  of  being  born  into  a  state  of  liberty 
and  freedom,  was  damned  into  it.  For  well-nigh  eight 
generations  he  had  been  worked  like  dumb,  driven 
cattle  and  punished  like  a  brute,  crushed  with  the  iron 
hoof  of  oppression  and  repression;  whipped,  torn, 
bleeding  in  body,  mind  and  soul ;  day  after  day,  year 
after  year,  he  had  toiled,  sweated,  groaned  and  wept, 
but  there  had  been  no  hope  of  reward  to  lighten  his 
burdens.  He  had  no  wife,  no  children,  no  altar ;  no 
home,  no  hope,  no  purpose ;  no  motive,  310  aspiration, 
no  thought,  no  life,  but  he  had  a  God.  He  was  a  thing, 
a  dog,  a  brute,  an  animal.  His  notions,  even  among 
his  preachers,  were  crude ;  he  had  seen  her  whom  he 
had  desired  to  call  his  wife  torn  from  his  side,  insulted, 
degraded,  banished ;  he  had  looked  upon  his  fondlings 
with  an  indescribable  heartache  as  they  were  sold  from 
under  his  eye ;  he  had  been  trained  in  theft,  dishonesty 
and  duplicity;  he  had  drank  deeply  from  the  bitter 
waters  of  crime  and  lewdness.  He  was  ignorant  of  the 
duties,  and  even  privileges  of  Christianity,  and  of  the 
responsibilities  and  possibilities  of  the  family  life. 
Thus  he  walked  forth  on  that  famous  morn,  out  frcfm 
the  tomb  of  his  living  and  torturing  death,  with  abso- 
lutely nothing  in  his  hands,  his  head,  his  heart,  his 
pocket,  and  he  went  forth  to  try  his  fortunes  in  a  new 
world. 


MORAL  AND  SOCIAL  ADVANCEMENT.  149 

Freedom  Gave  Him  His  Hands.— Freedom  gave  him 
his  hands  and  his  wife  to  start  with,  two  great  boons ; 
with  the  hand  to  chip  out  his  place  and  to  work  with  a 
royal  will,  and  with  a  wife  to  build  his  altar  and  weave 
his  destiny,  he  is  endowed  as  never  before.  Hence 
the  Negro  at  the  close  of  the  war,  was  all  that  Ameri- 
can slavery  would  make  any  people,  viz.,  bestialized 
and  animalized;  ignorant,  poor,  crude,  rude,  helpless, 
moneyless  and  thoughtless.  American  slavery  was  not 
a  blessing;  it  was  a  curse.  The  good  that  came  to  the 
Negro  (and  there  was  good  even  in  so  baneful  contact) 
came  in  spite  of  slavery.  "Endeavor,  then,  to  com- 
bine the  whole  in  one  view — to  take  in  the  full  idea  of 
this  mighty  mass  of  evil,  in  all  the  suffering  of  mind 
and  body  which  it  inflicts,  in  all  its  brutalizing  effects 
and  demoralizing  tendencies  on  the  slave  and  on  his 
master — the  misery  which  it  entails  on  man,  and  the 
guilt  which  incurs  in  the  sight  of  God — and  you  will 
have  some  conception  of  the  multiplied  and  horrifying 
evils  of  slavery. ' ' 

Not  Surpassed  in  History.— This  view  represents 
the  status  of  the  Negro  at  the  close  of  the  war.  No 
other  slavery  in  all  history  has  ever  succeeded  to  so 
great  an  extent  as  has  this  American  slavery  in  degrad- 
ing the  women  of  a  race  and  in  corrupting  the  fountain 
of  every  virtue;  and  were  it  not  that  the  gospel  is  all 
conquering  and  all  purifying,  we  would  be  hopeless. 

Degraded  by  Compulsion.— "The  slave  Negro, "  says 
Professor  Bowen,  "was  taught  by  precept  and  authori- 
tative commandment,  as  well  as  trained  by  example  and 
driven  by  the  merciless  lash,  to  commit  adultery  and 
fornication,  and  to  live  in  the  murky  and  unrestrained 
passions  of  the  flesh  that  rush  on  through  the  open 
sluices  of  libertinism  and  shame  down  through  the 


150  PROGRESS   OF  A   RACE. 

gates  of  hell.  Who  dare  deny  it,  and  will  buttress  that 
denial  with  fact?  A  thousand  trustworthy  witnesses 
will  confirm  it,  who  carry  in  their  minds  and  souls  the 
imprint  of  that  lustful  period,  and  who  can  speak  that 
which  they  do  know  and  testify  to  what  they  have  seen 
and  felt."  President  Dewey,  of  William  and  Mary 
College,  in  Virginia,  speaking  of  the  slave  trade,  says : 
"It  furnishes  every  inducement  to  the  master  to  attend 
to  his  Negroes,  to  encourage  breeding  and  to  cause  the 
greatest  number  of  slaves  to  be  raised. "  "Virginia  is, 
indeed,  a  Negro-raising  state  for  other  states. "  "  The 
noblest  blood  of  Virginia, ' '  says  Paxton  in  a  letter  to 
Jay,  "runs  in  the  blood  of  her  slaves. "  The  slave  had 
no  marriage  or  family  rights.  Dr.  Taylor,  in  his 
*  *  Elements  of  the  Civil  Law, ' '  says :  *  *  Slaves  were  not 
entitled  to  the  condition  of  matrimony,  and  therefore 
had  no  relief  in  cases  of  adultery,  nor  were  they  the 
proper  objects  of  cognation  or  affinity,  but  of  quasi 
cognation  only."  And  the  Louisiana  reports  quoted 
by  Wheeler  in  his  "Law  of  Slavery, "  page  199,  declare: 
"  It  is  clear  that  slaves  have  no  legal  capacity  to  assent 
to  any  contract.  With  the  consent  of  their  masters 
they  may  marry,  but  while  in  a  state  of  slavery  it  can 
not  produce  any  civil  effects."  "No  slave,"  says  Jay, 
"can  commit  bigamy,  because  the  law  knows  no  more 
of  marriage  of  slaves  than  it  does  of  the  marriage  of 
brutes.  A  slave  may  indeed  be  formally  married,  but, 
as  far  as  legal  rights  and  obligations  are  concerned,  it 
is  an  idle  ceremony. ' ' 

Slave  Breeders. — The  cruelties  of  the  lash  did  not  in 
any  measure  equal  in  degradation  the  action  of  the  gain- 
greedy  and  conscienceless  slave  breeders,  who  sold 
wives  into  separation  from  their  husbands  and  com- 
-pelled  them  to  accept  new  partners  in  order  that  the 
fruitfulness  of  the  plantation  might  not  suffer. 


MORAL   AND   SOCIAL   ADVANCEMENT.  151 

Well  Known  to  Slave  Holders.— Professor  Bow- 
ers says,  "  The  deplorable  condition  of  the  slaves 
was  well  known  to  the  slave-holders  and  aboli- 
tionists. The  legally  closed  school  house  and  church, 
and  the  cupidity  of  master,  as  well  as  his  inhu- 
manity and  brutality,  were  bringing  forth  fruit  of  the 
blackest  kind  and  in  prodigious  quantities.  Human 
reason  hesitates  to  accept,  without  convincing  proof, 
the  horrible  tale  of  woe,  and  when  this  tale  is  well 
authenticated  it  sits  dumb  and  speechless  in  its  pres- 
ence. These  are  not  the  fancies  of  verdant  youth,  nor 
are  they  the  ravings  and  discolorations  of  an  unbal- 
anced brain,  neither  are  they  the  highly  colored  tales 
of  the  Arabian  Nights ;  but  they  are  the  statements  of 
honorable  slaveholders,  the  careful  compilations  and 
observations  of  the  white  ministry  in  the  South  during 
slavery,  and  the  unvarnished  accounts  of  the  actual 
sufferers  themselves. 

Why  Stated. — Let  it  be  borne  in  mind  that  these 
facts  are  not  written  to  feed  the  almost  quenchless  fires 
of  prejudices.  I  would  walk,  face  forward,  in  the 
presence  of  that  harrowing  and  nameless  shame  and 
cover  it  with  the  garment  of  Christian  charity ;  but  my 
only  apology  for  uncovering  this  pit  of  seething,  reek- 
ing and  nauseating  corruption  is  to  show  from  whence 
we  came,  and  to  refute  the  statement  that  slavery 
was  the  halcyon  days  of  purity  and  moral  power  for  the 
Negro,  and  to  show  the  absurdity  of  the  claim  that  the 
slave-driver's  whip  and  bloodhounds  are  superior  moral 
teachers  for  a  man  to  sympathetic,  consecrated  and 
humanity-loving  teachers  with  a  spelling  book  in  one 
hand  and  the  Bible  in  the  other.  And  again  these 
words  are  written  to  show  the  Negro  himself  the  black 
heritage  he  has  brought  with  him  from  slavery,  and 


152  PROGRESS   OF  A   RACE. 

to  impress  with  him  the  thought  that  heroic  treatment, 
patiently  and  persistently  administered,  will  ultimately 
develop  in  him  those  moral  qualities  that  are  necessary 
to  a  happy  life. ' ' 

Heathenism. — On  the  5th  of  December,  1833,  a  com- 
mittee of  the  Synod  of  South  Carolina  and  Georgia,  to 
whom  was  referred  the  subject  of  the  religious  instruc- 
tion of  the  colored  population,  made  a  report,  which 
has  been  published,  and  in  which  this  language  is  used : 

4 'Who  would  credit  it  that  in  these  years  of  revival 
and  benevolent  effort  in  this  Christian  republic  there 
are  over  2,000,000  of  human  beings  in  the  condition  of 
heathens,  and  in  some  respects  in  worse  condition? 
From  long  continued  and  close  observation,  we  believe 
that  their  religious  and  moral  condition  is  such  that 
they  may  justly  be  considered  the  heathen  of  this 
Christian  country,  and  will  bear  comparison  with  the 
heathen  of  any  country  in  the  world.  The  Negroes 
are  destitute  of  the  Gospel,  and  ever  will  be  under  the 
present  state  of  things.  In  the  vast  field  extending 
from  an  entire  state  beyond  the  Potomac  to  the  Sabine 
river,  and  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Ohio,  there  are,  to 
the  best  of  our  knowledge,  not  twelve  men  exclusively 
devoted  to  the  religious  instruction  of  the  Negroes. 
In  the  present  state  of  the  feeling  in  the  south,  a  min- 
istry of  their  own  color  could  neither  be  obtained  or 
tolerated.  But  do  not  the  Negroes  have  access  to  the 
Gospel  through  the  stated  ministry  of  the  whites?  We 
answer,  No ;  the  Negroes  have  no  regular  and  efficient 
ministry ;  as  a  matter  of  course,  no  churches ;  neither 
is  there  sufficient  room  in  white  churches  for  their 
accommodation.  We  know  of  but  five  churches  in  the 
slave-holding  states  built  expressly  for  their  use ;  these 
are  all. in  the  State  of  Georgia.  We  may  now  inquire 


MORAL  AND   SOCIAL  ADVANCEMENT.  153 

if  they  enjoy  the  privileges  of  the  Gospel  in  their  own 
houses  and  on  plantations?  Again  we  return  a  nega- 
tive answer.  They  have  no  Bibles  to  read  by  their 
own  firesides ;  they  have  no  family  altars ;  and  when 
in  affliction,  sickness  or  death,  they  have  no  minister 
to  address  to  them  the  consolations  of  the  Gospel,  nor 
to  bury  them  with  solemn  and  appropriate  services. 

Humane  Masters. — In  every  state  there  were  masters 
who  were  kind-hearted  and  genuinely  sympathetic, 
who  treated  their  slaves  with  consideration,  and  some  of 
them  taught  their  slaves  to  read ;  had  them  to  marry 
according  to  the  requirements  of  the  church ;  did  not 
allow  them  to  violate  with  impunity,  nor  did  these 
masters  themselves  violate,  the  marriage  vows  of  the 
slaves ;  took  them  to  their  churches  and  had  them  to 
share  the  benefits  of  the  pulpit  ministrations,  and 
thus  acted  towards  them  in  the  capacity  of  fathers  and 
mothers  towards  their  children.  There  was  genuine 
affection  between  them,  and  these  slaves  were  the  fav- 
ored ones  in  the  South,  and  the  ex-slaves  of  to-day  who 
had  such  masters,  never  cease  to  sing  their  praise. 

Few  in  Number. — But.it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that 
such  slave- masters  were  exceedingly  few  and  far 
between,  and  what  is  still  more  remarkable,  such 
moral,  intellectual  and  spiritual  care  of  the  slave  by 
these  few  noble  spirits  was  contrary  to  the  letter  and 
spirit  of  the  law  in  every  slave  state. 

The  law  of  certain  states  forbade  the  use  of  the 
Bible  or  any  other  book,  and  also  religious  meetings  of 
the  Negroes,  unless  a  majority  of  whites  were  present. 
All  prohibited  the  impartation  of  instruction,  while  Vir- 
ginia unequivocally  forbade  all  evening  meetings.  "In 
the  House  of  Delegates  of  Viginia,  in  1832,  Mr.  Berry 
said:  'We  have,  as  far  as  possible,  closed  every  avenue 


154  PROGRESS   OF  A  RACE. 

by  which  -ight  might  enter  their  (the  slaves')  minds. 
If  we  could  extinguish  the  capacity  to  see  the  light  our 
work  would  be  completed;  they  would  then  be  on  a 
level  with  the  beasts  of  the  field,  and  we  should  be  safe ! 
I  am  not  certain  that  we  would  not  do  it  if  we  could 
find  out  the  process,  and  that  on  the  plea  of  necessity. '  ' ' 

Defending  Slavery. — Dr.  Blyden,  in  his  "Christian- 
ity, Islam  and  the  Negro,"  says:  "The  highest  men 
in  the  South,  magistrates,  legislators,  professors  of 
religion,  preachers  of  the  gospel,  governors  of  states, 
gentlemen  of  property  and  understanding,  all  united 
in  upholding  a  system  which  every  Negro  felt  was 
wrong.  Yet  these  were  the  men  from  whom  he  got 
his  religion,  and  whom  he  was  obliged  to  regard  as 
guides.  Saints,  no  doubt,  there  were  among  the  bond- 
men, but  they  became  so  not  in  consequence,  but  in 
default,  and  often,  we  may  say,  in  defiance,  of  instruc- 
tions. "  The  sacredness  of  the  marriage  relation,  the 
punishments  for  fornication  and  adultery,  ethical  integ- 
rity, the  glories  and  rewards  for  faithful  service,  and 
the  duties,  privileges,  and  opportunities  of  the  Christian 
life,  were  never  discussed  before  and  unfolded  to  the 
slave.  Where  he  was  permitted  to  hold  meetings  he 
was  trained  in  the  most  grotesque  types  of  worship ; 
his  emotions  and  wildest  eccentricities  were  cultivated, 
and  his  motives  for  life  were  drawn  from  no  higher 
source  in  the  main  than  this  temporary,  enthusiastic 
and  emotional  worship. 

Financial  Consideration. — He  was  trained  in  certain 
handicraft  for  financial  consideration.  The  lash  was 
his  taskmaster,  and  from  him  he  received  no  view  of 
the  dignity  of  labor.  A  man  may  learn  mechanics  by 
force,  but  not  ethics.  The  last  may  make  (?)  a  good 
blacksmith,  but  not  a  good  conscience.  There  was  no 


MORAL  AND  SOCIAL   ADVANCEMENT.  155 

thought  among  the  slaveholders  of  improving  the  slave 
in  any  element  for  the  slave's  sake. 

A  Struggling  Race.— President  Wright  says :  * '  Ex- 
tremely interesting  must  such  a  task  be  when  it  is 
understood  that  the  history  of  the  American  Negro  is 
the  history  of  a  race  struggling  amid  environments 
and  against  difficulties  such  as  no  similar  nation  in  all 
history  has  had  to  meet.  It  is  pretty  generally  agreed 
that  the  Negro  in  America  introduces  a  problem  with- 
out a  parallel.  His  history  is  unique.  Properly  given 
in  all  its  phases,  the  narrative  would  teem  with  inci- 
dents and  achievements  almost  romantic. 

"The  surrender  of  General  Lee  was  the  occasion  of 
the  total  collapse  of  the  social  and  industrial  features 
of  the  old  Georgia  progress.  Society  among  the  white 
people  for  the  time  was  thrown  into  almost  chaotic  con- 
dition, but  it  was  for  the  moment  only.  They  under- 
stood how  to  cover  a  rout,  to  gather  the  demolished 
fragments  and  reform. 

"But  how  was  it  with  the  Negro?  Had  he  ever  any 
conception  of  society,  of  voluntary  order?  Had  one- 
tenth  of  one  per  cent  of  them  ever  looked  into  a  book 
or  saved  a  dollar? 

Ignorance  Equaled  by  Poverty. — Their  ignorance 
was  equaled  only  by  their  poverty.  Improvident  and 
totally  helpless,  the  freedman  was  well  nigh  friendless. 
Considered  by  many  as  property  illegally  taken  from 
those  among  whom  his  lot  was  to  be  cast  hereafter  as  a 
citizen,  he  was  looked  upon  as  an  intruder  in  the  body 
politic.  Hindered,  rather  than  helped,  by  those  whom 
he  knew  best ;  confused  by  his  new  surroundings,  and 
with  his  intellectual  and  moral  abilities  subjects  of 
misunderstanding  and  doubt  on  the  part  of  his  friends, 
the  Negro  of  Georgia  was  sent  forth  in  1865  to  develop 


156  PROGRESS  OF  A  RACE. 

character,  to  get  education  and  money,  and  to  prove 
himself  worthy  the  freedom  which  was  thrust  upon 
him.  In  short,  he  was  to  maintain  himself  as  a  freed- 
man  and  citizen  in  the  midst  of  his  old  masters,  who 
had  enjoyed  centuries  of  civilization.  That  it  was  a 
great  task  all  will  acknowledge ;  that  under  its  environ- 
ments it  was  a  feat  fraught  with  much  doubt,  few  will 
deny.  But  while  this  condition  was  pitiable,  it  was 
not  hopeless.  Under  slavery,  he,  though  a  simple 
child  of  the  shovel  and  hoe,  had  developed  a  faith  in 
God  which  was  abiding,  and  had  obtained  a  working 
knowledge  of  the  English  tongue.  These  were  his  sole 
stock  in  trade,  but  they  were  very  valuable.  To  under- 
stand, then,  the  difficulties  which  the  Negro  has  over- 
come and  to  estimate  the  progress  which  he  has  made 
in  the  past  thirty  years,  his  condition  at  emancipation 
must  be  borne  steadily  and  faithfully  in  mind. 

Difficult  to  Comprehend. — It  is  difficult  to  compre- 
hend the  utter  poverty  and  disheartening  ignorance 
which  enveloped  the  colored  people  at  the  beginning 
of  the  period  under  discussion.  They  began  without 
any  adequate  amount  of  food,  clothing  or  shelter ;  a 
vast  majority  without  the  least  conception  of  a  school 
or  a  home.  Their  exertions  to  obtain  food,  clothing, 
and  shelter,  certainly  greatly  retarded  their  efforts 
for  book  learning.  They  did  not  know  how  to  make 
contracts  or  agreements  for  wages.  Consequently  they 
worked  the  first  year  for  a  bare  subsistence ;  with  a  few 
exceptions  their  first  possessions  outside  of  food  and 
clothing  were  bought  during  the  second  year,  and  con- 
sisted of  oxen  and  mules  and  farming  implements. 
They  began  to  rent  lands  in  the  third  year,  and  in  the 
fourth  to  buy  land.  This  was  the  rule;  there  were 
exceptions.  To  fully  understand  the  educational  devel- 


MORAL  AND   SOCIAL  ADVANCEMENT. 

opment  of  the  first  decade  would  require  a  thorough 
knowledge  of  the  colored  man's  progress  and  achieve- 
ments as  a  free  laborer;  for  the  labor  question  and 
educational  problem  are,  as  Siamese  twins,  insepar- 
able/' 

Moral  Improvement. — "Talks  for  the  Times"  says: 
"To  estimate  fairly  their  improvement  in  this  direc- 
tion it  would  be  necessary  to  realize,  if  possible,  the 
depth  of  degradation  to  which  two  hundred  and  fifty 
years  of  thralldom  had  sunk  them,  and  to  take  into 
consideration  at  the  same  time  the  fact  that  the  moral 
nature  of  man  everywhere  and  among  all  people  is  by 
far  the  most  difficult  to  train.  This  being  so,  what 
must  be  ,the  task  to  repair  it,  after  it  has  been  bruised 
and  maimed  and  twisted  and  gnarled  and  distorted? 
A  crooked  limb,  by  proper  appliances,  may  be  straight- 
ened. A  bone  of  the  body  may  be  broken  and  set,  and 
become  even  stronger  in  the  fractured  parts ;  but  man 
cannot  sin  and  be  strong.  The  violation  of  the  moral 
law  means,  in  every  instance,  the  sapping  of  moral 
foundations,  the  weakening  of  the  moral  nature.  When, 
therefore,  I  consider  by  what  processes,  during  two 
centuries,  the  moral  groundwork  of  my  people  was 
undermined  and  shaken,  it  is  no  wonder  that  to-day 
many  of  them  are  found  immoral.  The  greater  won- 
der is  that  their  moral  perception  has  not  been  entirely 
swept  away.  Many  people,  however,  and  those, 
especially,  who  stigmatize  us  as  a  race  peculiarly 
immoral,  do  not  reason  in  this  way.  They  do  not  seem 
to  realize  that  slavery  was  a  school  ill  adapted  to  the 
producing  of  pure  and  upright  characters.  Can  you 
rob  a  man  continually  of  his  honest  earnings  and  not 
teach  him  to  steal?  Can  you  ignore  the  sanctity  of 
marriage  and  the  family  relations  and  not  inculcate 


158  PROGRESS    OF   A    RACE. 

lewdness?  Can  you  constantly  govern  a  man  with  the 
lash  and  expect  him  always  to  speak  the  truth?  If  you 
can  do  these  things,  then,  verily,  are  my  people  dishon- 
est, impure  and  untruthful.  But  our  enemies  demand 
of  us  perfection.  They  are  unreasonable.  They  require 
among  us  in  twenty  short  years  a  state  of  moral  recti- 
tude which  they  themselves,  with  far  more  favorable 
opportunities,  have  not  realized  in  one  hundred  times 
twenty.  They  are  unphilosophical,  for  they  do  not 
perceive  that  diseases  are  more  quickly  contracted  than 
cured. 

Negro  Immoralities.— "  Very  amusing,  too,  it  is  to 
listen  to  the  hue  and  cry  sent  up  every  little  while 
against  Negro  immoralities;  such  a  cry  and  howl  as 
went  up  but  recently  from  the  swamps  of  the  Missis- 
sippi, and  are  still  reverberating  through  the  country 
with  a  jarring  sound.  Very  amusing,  I  say,  it  is  to 
listen  to  these  cries  against  Negro  immoralities,  when 
the  same  immoralities  are  continually  cropping  out 
among  the  white  people,  professedly  our  superiors. 
How  many  times  within  the  last  two  decades,  has  this 
nation  had  to  hang  its  head  in  shame  because  of  the 
dishonesty  of  its  public  men!  What  about  Credit 
Mobilier  and  the  Tamany  frauds?  What  about  whis- 
ky rings?  What  about  cipher  dispatches?  What  about 
Star  Route  trials?,  What  about  the  stuffing  of  ballot 
boxes?  What  about  the  defalcation  and  impeachment 
of  high  state  officials?  And  so  on,  and  so  on,  ad 
infirntum. 

In  Proportion  to  Opportunities. — "We  have  not  had 
a  fair  chance  in  this  country ;  but,  in  proportion  to  our 
opportunities  we  can  show  as  many  good,  virtuous, 
law-abiding  citizens  as  any  other  race  on  this  continent. 
Wherever,  in  the  South,  Christian  education  has 


MORAL   AND   SOCIAL   ADVANCEMENT.  150 

reached  the  freedmen  it  has  awakened  in  them  a  taste 
for  the  true  and  beautiful.  This  may  be  seen  in  the 
changed  manner  of  living  of  many  of  them.  The  dirty 
shanty  and  clumsy  log  cabins  in  which,  formerly,  so 
many  were  accustomed  to  be  huddled  together,  are 
retreating,  step  by  step,  before  the  steady  advance  of 
neat  and  cozy  cottages.  Christian  homes,  the  strength 
of  any  nation,  are  being  built  up,  decorated  with  the 
beauties  and  improvement  of  modern  art. 

Negro  Domination. — ' '  Old  civilizations  die  hard,  and 
old  prejudices  die  harder.  They  have  nine  lives,  like 
a  cat.  For  this  reason,  therefore,  you  may  expect  for 
many  a  year  yet  to  find  those  who  are  still  living  in 
the  dead  past,  and  who  feel  it  their  duty  to  champion 
the  old  order  of  things,  and  to  throw  stumbling  blocks 
in  the  path  of  progress.  I  entertain  no  ill  will  toward 
this  class  of  persons.  I  have  for  them  no  word  of  cen- 
sure or  reproach.  I  give  them  the  credit  of  even  being 
sincere ;  but  I  assure  them  from  every  page  of  history 
and  human  experience  they  are  mistaken.  They  are 
at  war  with  the  spirit  of  the  age  and  the  sermon  on 
the  mount.  Nor  are  they  even  consistent.  They 
advocate  the  theory  of  repression.  They  say  the 
Negro  must  be  kept  down  for  fear  of  Negro  domination. 
On  the  other  hand,  they  hold  that  he  is  an  inferior  race, 
fundamentally  inferior,  created  so  by  almighty  God. 
Why,  in  the  name  of  righteous  heaven  should  it  be 
necessary  to  keep  down  a  race  that  is  naturally  inferior? 
Why  should  there  be  any  fear  of  its  ever  becoming 
dominant?  There  is  something  crooked  in  this  philos- 
ophy. To  say  the  least,  there  is  something  in  it 
exceedingly  incongruous.  Nevertheless  it  is  this  kind 
of  philosophy  that  is  sending  armed  ruffians  into  first- 
class  cars  to  drag  them  from  their  seats,  for  which  they 


160  PROGRESS  OF  A   fcACE. 

have  honestly  paid  their  money,  the  best  men  and 
women  of  our  race.  It  is  this  kind  of  philosophy  that 
is  shutting  everywhere  in  our  faces  the  doors  of  public 
accommodation.  It  is  this  false  philosophy,  I  say,  by 
which  it  is  made  to  appear  that  every  advancement  of 
the  Negro  is  a  menace  to  the  interests  of  the  white 
man ;  and  it  is  this  philosophy  that  will  ever  keep  alive 
in  the  South  race  antagonism. 

Inconsistent,  Incorrect  and  Narrow  Views. — "The 
men  who  advocate  this  philosophy  are  not  only  incon- 
sistent, but  incorrect,  and  exceedingly  narrow  in  their 
views  as  to  the  nature  of  this  government.  They  claim 
that  it  is  not  only  a  'white  man's'  government,  but 
an  Anglo-Saxon  government,  thereby  robbing  of 
their  merit  and  glory  the  noble-minded  foreigners  who 
helped  fight  for  American  independence,  and  the 
hundreds  of  thousands  more  who  were  not  Anglo- 
Saxons,  but  who,  during  four  years  of  a  terrible  civil 
war  fought  as  bravely  and  as  heroically  as  any  Anglo- 
Saxon  to  save  this  nation  from  dissolution  and  ruin. 
Did  not  Lafayette,  that  gallant  Frenchman,  fight  for 
American  independence?  Let  the  battle  of  Brandy  wine 
tell.  Did  not  Count  Pulaski,  the  noble  Pole,  fight  for 
American  independence?  Let  the  same  battle  of 
Brandywine  tell.  Did  he  not  afterward  even  fall  in  an 
attempt  to  capture  Savannah?  Did  not  Kosciusko, 
another  Pole,  and  even  far  more  distinguished  than  the 
other,  cast  in  his  fortune  with  the  cause  of  American 
independence?  And  what  shall  we  say  of  the  hundreds 
of  thousands  who  were  not  Anglo-Saxons,  but  who 
poured  out  their  life  blood  at  Gettysburg  and  the  Wil- 
derness and  Chickamauga,  and  around  the  defenses  of 
Richmond  and  Vicksburg?  Indeed,  it  is  my  belief, 
that  if  all  the  blood  that  is  not  Anglo-Saxon  could  be 


MORAL   AND   SOCIAL   ADVANCEMENT.  161 

drawn  off  from  the  great  stream  supplying-  our  national 
life,  that  which  remained  would  be  conspicuous  for  the 
insignificance  of  its  quantity." 

Look  Not  for  Greatness. — Senator  Logan  once  said  : 
If  there  is  any  one  thing  that  will  clog  the  wheels  of 
your  material  progress  it  is  the  fact  that  some  of  you 
are  trying  to  overreach  yourselves.  Do  not  become 
dazzled  at  the  splendor  and  magnificence  of  those  who 
had  hundreds  of  years  to  make  this  country  what  it  is 
today.  No  man  is  a  success  who  has  not  a  fixed  object 
as  a  sign-post — an  aim  in  life  to  attain  unto.  A  man 
should  get  that  kind  and  that  amount  of  education  that 
will  best  fit  him  for  the  performance  and  the  attain- 
ment of  his  object  in  life.  Too  much  Greek  will  do 
you  no  good;  what  does  a  man  want  with  Greek 
around  a  table  with  a  white  apron  on?  I  do  not  say  that 
you  should  not  study  Greek  if  you  intend  to  fill  a  chair 
in  some  institution  of  learning ;  I  do  not  say  that  you 
should  not  read  medicine  if  you  desire  to  become  a 
physician,  or  law  if  you  wish  to  follow  that  profession. 
But  I  tell  you  our  white  people  are  fast  growing  indo- 
lent and  lazy.  If  you  watch  your  chance  and  take 
timely  advantage  of  the  opportunities  offered  you, 
your  race  will  be  the  wage  workers,  the  skilled  arti- 
sans, and  eventually  the  land  owners  and  the  wealthy 
class  of  this  country.  I  advise  you  to  learn  trades, 
learn  to  become  mechanics.  You  have  the  ability  and 
the  capacity  to  reach  the  highest  point,  and  even  go 
further,  in  the  march  of  progress  than  has  yet  been 
made  by  any  people. 

Labor  to  Become  Great. — It  takes  labor  to  become  a 
great  man,  just  as  it  takes  centuries  to  become  a  great 
nation.  Great  men  are  not  fashioned  in  heaven  and 
thrown  from  the  hand  of  the  Almighty  to  become 

11  Progress. 


162 


PROGRESS    OF   A   RACE. 


potentates  here  on  earth,  nor  are  they  born  rich. 
I  admit  that  there  is,  in  some  parts  of  this  country,  a 
prejudice  against  you  on  account  of  your  color  and 
former  condition.  In  my  opinion  the  best  way  to 
overcome  this  is  to  show  your  capability  by  doing 
everything  that  a  white  man  does,  and  do  it  just  as 
well  or  better  than  he  does.  If  a  white  man  scorns 


BROOKS  SANDERS. 

Son  of  Pres.  Sanders,  of  Biddle 
University,  Charlotte,  N.  C. 


DAUGHTER   OF 
BISHOP  C.  R.  HARRIS, 

Salisbury,  N.  C. 


you,  show  him  that  you  are  too  high  bred,  too  noble 
hearted,  to  take  notice  of  it ;  and,  the  first  opportunity 
you  have,  do  him  a  favor,  and  I  warrant  that  he  will 
feel  ashamed  of  himself  and  never  again  will  he  make 
an  exhibition  of  his  prejudice.  The  future  -is  yours, 
and  you  have  it  in  which  to  rise  to  the  heights  or 
descend  to  the  depths 


MORAL  AND   SOCIAL   ADVANCEMENT.  163 

In  America. — I  believe  that  the  future  of  the  Negro 
race  is  to  be  found  in  the  segment  of  that  race  provi- 
dentially lodged  on  this  soil.  Say  what  we  may  about 
this  or  that,  these  United  States  have  given  us  the 
most  advanced,  the  most  progressive  Negro  to  be  found 
on  the  face  of  the  globe.  And  this  is  true  for  the 
reason  that  she  is  giving  him  the  largest  all-round 
opportunities,  the  highest  civil  ideals,  and  the  steadiest 
aims.  The  troubles  we  suffer  here  in  our  day  are  only 
a  part  of  the  old,  old  conflict  that  has  raged  so  long. 

"Must  we  be  earned  to  the  skies 

On  flowery  beds  of  ease, 
While  others  fought  to  win  the  prize 
And  sailed  through  bloody  seas?" 

No,  we  cannot  be,  and  will  not  be,  though  we  may 
wish  to  ever  so  much.  "Through  conflict  to  the  skies," 
is  as  true  for  dark  humanity  as  for  any  other  variety 
of  men.  Had  we  then  not  better  learn  this  lesson  and 
cease  our  shameful  grumbling,  as  if  the  Almighty  had 
done  us  some  special  wrong?  God  has  given  us  minds 
to  think,  hands  to  work  and  hearts  to  love.  Let  us 
subject  these  God-given  powers  to  the  regimen  of  a 
severe  discipline,  and,  walking  with  hope  to  the  future, 
work  out  a  noble  destiny  for  ourselves  and  our  children. 

Change  During  Years  of  Bondage. — Said  Rev.  A.  D. 
Mayo,  at  the  Mohonk  conference  in  1890:  "It  has 
never  been  realized  by  the  loyal  North  what  is  evident 
to  every  intelligent  Southern  man,  what  a  prodigious 
change  has  been  wrought  in  this  people  during  its  years 
of  bondage,  and  how,  without  the  schooling  of  this  era, 
the  subsequent  elevation  of  the  emancipated  slave  to  a 
full  American  citizenship  would  have  been  an  impossi- 
bility. In  that  condition  he  learned  the  three  great 
elements  of  civilization  more  speedily  than  they  were 


164  PROGRESS  OF  A   RACE. 

ever  learned  before.  He  learned  to  work,  he  acquired 
the  language,  and  adopted  the  religion  of  the  most 
progressive  of  peoples.  Gifted  with  a  marvelous  apti- 
tude for  such  schooling,  he  was  found  in  1865  farther 
out  of  the  woods  of  barbarism  than  any  other  people  at 
the  end  of  a  thousand  years. ' ' 

In  Twenty  Years. — The  scholastic  education  of  the 
Negro  began  in  earnest  only  about  twenty  years  ago, 
1876  being  the  date  of  the  complete  inauguration  of 
the  public  school  system  of  the  South.  This  is  too 
short  for  us  to  expect  great  results.  The  educated 
generation  are  not  yet  fairly  out  of  school,  but  there 
have  already  appeared  some  isolated  cases  which  show 
signs  of  promise.  In  the  class  of  1888  at  Harvard 
University  were  two  Negroes,  one  of  whom  was  selected 
by  the  faculty  to  represent  his  class  on  commencement 
day,  as  being  the  foremost  scholar  among  his  two  hun- 
dred and  fifty  classmates;  the  other  was  elected  by  the 
class  for  the  highest  honor  in  their  gift,  by  being  made 
their  orator  on  class  day.  The  circumstance  reflects 
honor,  not  merely  on  him,  but  on  the  democratic  spirit 
of  our  oldest  university,  which  recognized  merit  with- 
out  regard  to  color.  Boston  University  has  also  yielded 
first  honors  to  a  Negro.  A  Negro  professor  of 
theology  at  Straight  University,  at  New  Orleans,  is  a 
graduate  of  Vermont  University,  who  afterwards  took 
the  prize  for  traveling  scholarship  from  Yale  Theo- 
logical Seminary,  and  spent  a  year  in  Germany  upon 
it.  Professor  Bowen,  of  the  Gammon  Theological 
Seminary,  delivered  at  the  Atlanta  Exposition  opening 
an  address  which  in  classic  finish  will  bear  comparison 
with  the  best  orations  of  Edward  Everett.  The  prin- 
cipal of  one  of  our  auxiliaries,  Mr.  E.  N.  Smith,  a 
perfect  gentleman  and  an  excellent  teacher,  is  a  full 


MORAL  AND  SOCIAL  ADVANCEMENT.  lt)5 

bloeded  Negro,  a  graduate  of  Lincoln  University  and 
Newton  Theological  Institution,  and  pronounced  by 
Dr.  Hovey  one  of  the  best  scholars  that  have  been 
educated  there. 

False  Hopes. — The  most  obvious  hindrance  in  the 
way  of  the  education  of  the  Negro  has  so  often  been 
presented  and  discussed — his  origin,  history  and  envir- 
onment— that  it  seems  superfluous  to  treat  it  anew. 
His  political  status,  sudden  and  unparalleled,  compli- 
cated by  antecedent  condition,  excites  false  hopes  and 
encourages  the  notion  of  reaching  per  saltum,  without 
the  use  of  the  agencies  of  time,  labor,  industry,  discip- 
line, what  the  dominant  race  had  attained  after  cen- 
turies of  toil  and  trial  and  sacrifice.  Education,  prop- 
erty, habits  of  thrift  and  self-control,  higher  achieve- 
ments of  civilization,  are  not  extemporized  nor  created 
by  magic  or  legislation.  Behind  the  Caucasian  lie 
centuries  of  the  educating,  uplifting  influences  of 
civilization,  of  the  institution  of  family,  society, 
the  churches,  the  state,  and  the  salutary  effects 
of  heredity.  Behind  the  Negro  are  centuries  of  igno- 
rance, barbarism,  slavery,  superstition,  idolatry,  fetish- 
ism, and  the  transmissible  consequences  of  heredity. 

Charitable  Judgment.— Nothing  valuable  or  perma- 
nent in  human  life  has  been  secured  without  the  sub- 
stratum of  moral  character,  of  religious  motive,  in  the 
individual,  the  family,  the  community.  In  this  matter 
the  Negro  should  be  judged  charitably,  for  his  aboriginal 
people  were  not  far  removed  from  the  savage  state, 
where  they  knew  neither  house  nor  home,  and  had  not 
enjoyed  any  religious  training.  Their  condition  as 
slaves  debarred  them  the  advantage  of  regular,  con- 
tinuous, systematic  instruction.  The  Negro  began  his 
life  of  freedom  and  citizenship  with  natural  weaknesses 


166  PROGRESS    OF  A    RACE. 

unconnected,  with  loose  notions  of  piety  and  morality, 
and  with  strong  racial  peculiarities  and  proclivities, 
and  has  not  outgrown  the  feebleness  of  the  moral  sense 
which  is  common  to  all  primitive  races. 

Thrift. — Professor  Greenwood  says:  " Twenty-five 
years  ago  the  colored  people  of  Missouri  were  unedu- 
cated, poverty-stricken,  dependent,  and  helpless  creat- 
ures. To-day  they  number  200,000.  The  value  of  their 
real  and  personal  property  is  more  than  $30,000,000. 

"Thousands  of  them  live  in  comfortable  homes. 

"Of  the  50,000  children  of  school  age,  seventy  per 
cent,  are  now  in  attendance.  They  are  as  neatly  and 
cleanly  clad  as  the  average  white  child,  and  many  of 
them  much  better.  Those  who  were  the  boys  and  girls 
in  school  a  few  years  ago  are  the  leaders  among  their 
people  now.  The  self-denial  practiced  by  parents  to 
educate  their  children  is  one  of  the  strongest  evidences 
of  parental  affection  that  the  world  has  ever  beheld. 
When  the  schoolhouse  doors  were  opened  for  the 
admission  of  colored  pupils,  they  rushed  in  to  get  an 
education,  and  the  influx  is  unabated.  I  have  seen  old 
white-haired  men  and  women  studying  the  first  reader 
and  spelling  book  so  as  to  be  able  to  read  the  Bible,  the 
newspapers,  and  to  write  letters  to  relatives  and 
friends.  Have  you  seen  white  people  doing  these 
things?" 

A  Loyal  American. — But  let  us  look  at  these  people 
from  another  standpoint,  and  see  what  progress  they 
have  made.  In  Missouri  there  are  45,000  of  them 
church  communicants;  more  than  450  ministers  of  the 
gospel;  400  church  edifices  and  60  parsonages.  Do 
these  evidences  of  prosperity  indicate  the  wretchedness 
of  this  race?  The  Negro  must  be  treated  as  a  man, 
neither  cajoled  nor  despised,  He  is  here  to  stay,  and 


MORAL   AND   SOCIAL   ADVANCEMENT.  167 

it  is  our  duty  to  help  him  make  the  most  of  himself  as 
an  industrious,  intelligent,  law-abiding  and  faithful 
citizen.  Whether  educated  or  uneducated,  he  is  not  a 
dangerous  element  in  our  civilization.  A  thousand- 
fold is  he  to  be  trusted  when  compared  with  those  dan- 
gerous elements  which  have  swept  in  upon  us  from 
European  countries,  and  are  now  a  standing  menace  to 
our  social  and  political  institutions.  The  Negro  is 
thoroughly  and  loyally  American. 

Thrift  and  Self-Respect. — The  thrift  and  self-respect 
of  the  Negro  has  removed  him  from  the  dark  and 
cheerless  abode  in  which  he  lived,  and  has  placed  him 
in  neat  and  well-kept  homes. 

Negro  Homes,  The  Contrast. — The  Negro  whose 
soul  is  free,  like  every  other  man,  appreciates  the  sa- 
credness  and  beauty  which  must  be  inseparable  from  a 
happy  home.  On  the  other  hand,  the  Negro,  debased 
and  brutified  by  a  servitude  of  centuries,  has  no  desire 
for  home  in  any  exalted  sense. 

Legacy  Bequeathed  by  Slavery. — Perhaps  the  least 
respected  legacy  left  by  slavery  to  the  children'  of  its 
victims  is  the  disintegrating  and  nomadic  tendency  to 
a  homeless  and  non-f  amilied  people.  There  are  among 
the  Negroes  those  whom  no  wretchedness  can  impel, 
no  opportunity  inspire  to  alter  or  make  tolerable  the 
places  in  which  their  families  exist,  and  many  an  old 
Negro  lives  for  years  in  a  one  or  two  room  cabin,  declin- 
ing to  build  another  room  "Kase  he  won't  be. g' wine 
to  leave. ' ' 

Happy  and  Comfortable  Homes. — The  influences 
that  are  at  work  in  transforming  the  women  of  the 
race,  making  a  generation  of  virtuous,  clean,  industrious 
women,  though  they  may  not  shine  in  society  and  speak 
but  pne  language,  though  they  may  be  ugly  in  feature! 


168  PROGRESS  OP  A  RACK. 

and  unsophisticated  in  manner,  though  their  .names 
are  never  heard  outside  of  the  limits  of  their  own 
state,  these  influences,  I  say,  will  improve  the  homes 


REV.  W.  W.   LUCAS,  A.   M.,  B.  D. 


Secretary  of  the  Stewart  Missionary  Foundation  for 
Africa,  graduate  of  Clark  University  and  Gammon's 
School  of  Theology  of  Atlanta,  Ga.,  and  Boston  Uni- 
versity, of  Boston,  Massachusetts. 

of  the  race  more  speedily  than  any  other  aspiration, 
after  the  empty  honors  and  applause  of  the  multitude. 
Do  Something. — Booker  Washington  says:  "We 
expect  too  often  to  get  things  that  God  did  not  mean 
for  us  to  have  in  certain  ways.  At  one  time  an  o!4 


MORAL  AND  SOCIAL  ADVANCEMENT.  169 

colored  man  was  very  anxious  to  get  a  turkey,  and 
prayed  and  prayed  for  the  Lord  to  send  him  a  turkey. 
The  turkey  did  not  come,  and  finally  the  old  man 
changed  his  prayer  somewhat  and  said,  *O  Lord,  send 
dis  nigger  to  a  turkey,'  and  he  got  it  that  night.  God 
means  for  us  to  get  many  things  in  about  that  same 
way,  that  is,  by  working  for  them  rather  than  by 
depending  on  the  power  of  mouth. ' ' 

There  are  multitudes  who  are  willing  to  accept 
honors  and  advantages  who  are  not  ready  to  work  for 
them.  It  is  necessary  for  all  who  would  succeed  to  put 
forth  strenuous  efforts  in  that  direction.  The  days  of 
chance  are  gone,  it  is  only  the  man  who  does  not  wait 
for  things  to  turn  up,  but  turns  up  something,  that  suc- 
ceeds. Young  man,  do  something ;  attempt  something 
that  will  be  a  benefit  to  your  race.  Something  en- 
nobling, something  enduring;  something  to  elevate 
manhood  and  win  men  to  noble,  virtuous,  upright  lives, 
and  your  life  will  not  have  been  lived  in  vain. 

These  thoughts  must  be  impressed  upon  the  humblest 
of  the  race.  Success  comes  not  by  waiting  for  it. 
If  the  Afro- American  race  is  to  continue  to  rise,  and 
is  to  hold  a  prominent  place  in  this  nation,  there  must 
be  an  effort.  Empty  wishes  carry  us  nowhere.  With- 
out an  earnest  effort  on  the  part  of  those  of  the  race 
who  hold  the  key  to  circumstances  the  race  may  as 
well  yield  to  the  prejudice  still  existing,  and  hold  for- 
ever an  inferior  position,  but  with  a  determination  that 
surmounts  the  obstacles  and  with  a  corresponding 
effort  to  stand  first  in  the  industries  of  our  nation,  we 
may  well  expect  that  the  past  achievement  in  this  line 
is  nothing  compared  to  the  progress  of  the  future. 

Cast  Down  Your  Bucket. — "At  one  time  a  ship  was 
lost  at  sea  for  many  days,  when  it  hove  in  sight  of  a 


170  PROGRESS   OF  A  RACE. 

friendly  vessel.  The  signal  of  the  distressed  vessel  was 
at  once  hoisted,  which  read:  'We  want  water;  we  die 
of  thirst.'  The  answering  signal  read,  'Cast  down 
your  bucket  where  you  are, '  but  a  second  time  the  dis- 
tressed vessel  signaled,  'We  want  water,  water,'  and  a 
second  time  the  other  vessel  answered  'cast  down  your 
bucket  where  you  are. '  A  third  and  fourth  time  the 
distressed  vessel  signaled,  'We  want  water,  water;  we 
die  of  thirst;'  and  as  many  times  was  answered,  'Cast 
down  your  bucket  where  you  are. '  At  last  the  com- 
mand was  obeyed,  the  bucket  was  cast  down  where  the 
vessel  stood,  and  it  came  up  full  of  fresh  and  sparkling 
water  from  the  Amazon  river.  My  friends,  we  are 
failing  to  cast  down  our  buckets  for  the  help  that  is 
right  above  us,  and  spend  too  much  time  in  signaling 
for  help  that  is  far  off.  Let  us  cast  down  our  buckets 
here  in  our  own  sunny  South,  cast  them  down  in  agri- 
culture, in  truck  gardening,  dairying,  poultry  raising, 
hog  raising,  laundering,  cooking,  sewing,  mechanical 
and  professional  life,  and  the  help  that  we  think  is  far 
off  will  come  and  we  will  soon  grow  independent  and 
useful. ' ' 

In  Our  Stead. — In  a  speech  before  a  National  Council 
of  Colored  Men,  Bishop  Turner  made  the  following 
excellent  points :  "I  am  willing  to  accord  to  the  white 
man  every  meed  of  honor  that  ability,  grit,  backbone, 
sagacity,  tact  and  invincibility  can  entitle  him  to.  For 
this  Anglo-Saxon,  I  grant,  is  a  powerful  race;  but 
put  him  in  our  stead,  enslave  him  for  two  hundred  and 
fifty  years,  emancipate  him  and  turn  him  loose  upon 
the  world,  without  education,  without  money,  without 
horse  or  mule  or  a  foot  of  land,  when  passion  engen- 
dered by  war  was  most  intense,  to  eke  out  a  subsistence 
from  nothing  beyond  the  charity  of  an  indignant  people 


MORAL   AND   SOCIAL   ADVANCEMENT.  171 

on  the  one  hand, and  a  cold  shouldering  and  prescriptive 
people  on  the  other,  and  I  do  not  believe  he  would 
have  equaled  us  in  respect,  obedience,  fidelity,  and 
accomplished  the  results  and  maintained  the  pacific 
equilibrium  we  have.  For  our  nation  freed  the  black 
man  as  a  war  measure,  I  grant,  but  that  freedom 
entailed  and  left  upon  us  a  mendicancy  that  the  unborn 
will  ask  the  reason  why.  Even  the  usufruct  claim, 
guaranteed  to  the  serfs  of  Russia — a  nation  at  that 
time  regarded  as  semi-civilized — was  denied  the  freed- 
men  by  this  so-called  enlightened  and  Christian 
nation. 

The  Mule  and  Forty  Acres.—  The  mule  and  forty 
acres  of  land,  which  has  been  so  often  ridiculed  for 
being  expected  by  the  black  man,  was  a  just  and  right- 
eous expectation, -and  had  this  nation  been  one-fiftieth 
part  as  loyal  to  the  black  man  as  he  has  been  to  it, 
such  a  bestowment  would  have  been  made,  and  the 
cost  would  have  been  a  mere  bagatelle,  compared  with 
the  infinite  resources  of  this  republic,  which  has  given 
countless  millions  to  foreigners  to  come  into  the  country 
and  destroy  respect  for  the  Sabbath,  flood  the  land 
with  every  vice  known  to  the  ends  of  the  earth,  and 
form  themselves  into  anarchal  bands  for  the  overthrow 
of  its  institutions  and  venerated  customs. 

Freedom. — Nevertheless,  freedom  has  been  so  long 
held  before  us,  as  man's  normal  birth-right,  and  the 
bas-relief  of  every  possibility  belonging  to  the  achieve- 
ments of  manhood,  that  we  received  it  as  Heaven's 
greatest  boon,  and  nursed  ourselves  into  satisfaction, 
believing  that  we  had  the  stamina,  not  only  to  wring 
existence  out  of  our  poverty,  but  also  wealth,  learning, 
honor,  fame  and  immortality. 

Rape,— But,   through   some   satanic   legerdemain, 


172  PROGRESS    OF    A    RACE. 

within  the  last  years,  the  most  fearful  crimes  have 
been  charged  upon  the  members  of  our  race  known  to 
the  catalogue  of  villainy,  and  death  and  destruction 
have  stalked  abroad  with  an  insatiable  carnivoracity 
that  not  only  beggars  description,  but  jeopardizes  the 
life  of  every  Negro  in  the  land,  as  anyone  could  raise 
an  alarm  by  crying  rape,  and  some  colored  man  must 
die,  whether  he  is  the  right  one  or  not,  or  whether  it 
was  the  product  of  revenge,  or  the  mere  cracking  of  a 
joke. 

An  Awful  Charge. — The  civilized  world  has  been 
informed  through  Christian  Advocates  and  through  the 
public  daily  papers  that  Negroes  have  raped  white 
women  in  such  numbers  that  the  charge  is  undoubtedly 
the  most  revolting  and  blood-curdling  ever  presented 
against  the  people  since  time  began.  Without  affirm- 
ing or  denying  this  monstrous  imputation,  we  owe  it 
to  ourselves  and  posterity  to  inquire  into  this  subject 
and  give  it  the  most  patient,  thorough  and  impartial 
investigation  that  ever  befell  the  lot  of  man. 

No  Attribute  to  Side  with  Us.— If  the  charges  are 
true,  then  God  has  no  attribute  that  will  side  with  us.  Na- 
ture has  no  member,  no  potential  factor,  that  will  defend 
us ;  and  while  we  may  not  all  be  guilty,  nor  one  in  ten 
thousand,  it  nevertheless  shows,  if  true,  that  there  is  a 
libidinous  taint,  a  wanton  and  lecherous  corruption, 
that  is  prophetic  of  a  dreadful  doom,  as  there  must  be 
a  cardinal  blood  poison  in  the  precincts  of  our  race  that 
staggers  the  most  acute  imagination  in  determining  its 
woeful  results. 

Counter  Charge. — Nor  can  we  excuse  it,  palliate  it, 
or  manifest  indifference  upon  the  postulation  that  it  is 
a  righteous  retribution  upon  the  white  man  for  the  way 
he  treated  our  women  for  hundreds  of  years.  For  if 


MORAL  AND  SOCIAL  ADVANCEMENT.  173 

the  counter-charge  is  true,  we  certainly  did  not  visit 
swift  vengeance  upon  the  white  man,  as  he  is  doing 
upon  us  by  his  lawless  mobs. 

One  Recourse  Left. — There  is  but  one  recourse  left 
us  that  will  command  the  respect  of  the  civilized  world 
and  the  approval  of  God,  and  that  is  to  investigate  the 
facts  in  the  premises,  and  if  guilty,  acknowledge  it,  and 
let  us  organize  against  the  wretches  in  our  own  ranks. 
Let  us  call  upon  the  colored  ministry  to  sound  it  from 
the  pulpit,  our  newspapers  to  brand  it  with  infamy 
daily,  weekly,  monthly  and  yearly.  Let  us  put  a  thou- 
sand lecturers  in  the  field,  to  canvass  every  section  of 
the  land,  and  denounce  the  heinous  crime. 

Heathen  Africa. — Among  the  heathen  Africans, 
whatever  else  may  be  said  about  them,  the  world  will 
have  to  admit  that  they  are  the  purest  people,  outside  of 
polygamy,  in  their  connubial  and  virgin  morals,  upon 
the  face  of  the  globe.  White  women,  to  my  personal 
knowledge,  hundreds  of  miles  interiorward  in  Africa, 
can  remain  in  their  midst  and  teach  school  for  years 
without  being  insulted,  which  proves  to  a  demonstra- 
tion that  where  our  natures  have  not  been  distorted 
and  abnormalized  we  are  the  most  honorable  cus- 
todians of  female  virtue  now  under  Heaven.  I  have 
been  told  by  white  ladies  in  Africa,  from  Louisiana, 
South  Carolina,  New  York,  Nebraska,  England,  and 
Ireland,  that  no  white  lady  could  be  improperly 
approached  in  Africa  in  a  lifetime  unless  she  made 
herself  unusually  forward. 

Not  the  Nature  of  the  Black  Man.— It  is  not  the 
nature  of  the  black  man  to  outrage  white  women, unless 
it  is  one  of  our  American  retrogressive  abnormalities, 
which  has  possibly  grown  out  of  the  degradation  en- 
tailed upon  us  by  the  singular  prejudice  and  degrading 


174  PROGRESS   OF  A  RACE. 

conditions  tinder  which  we  exist.  The  whole  range  of 
West  India  islands  show  by  their  records  that  only  one 
rape  has  been  charged  upon  a  black  man  since  1832,  and 
that  occurred  twenty  years  ago,  while  eleven  rapes 
were  charged  upon  white  men,  nine  of  which  were  per- 
petrated upon  black  women  and  two  upon  white 
women. 

Like  Begets  Like. — It  may,  however,  be  due  to  the 
fact  that  there  the  laws  and  institutions  recognize  the 
black  man  as  a  full-fledged  citizen  and  a  gentleman, 
and  his  pride  of  character  and  sense  of  dignity  are  not 
degraded,  and  self-respect  imparts  a  higher  prompting 
and  gentlemanly  bearing  to  his  manhood,  and  makes 
him  a  better  citizen  and  inspires  him  with  more  gal- 
lantry and  nobler  principles.  For  like  begets  like. 

A  Degraded  Condition. — While,  in  this  country,  we 
are  degraded  by  the  public  press,  degraded  by  the 
courts  of  the  country  from  the  United  States  Supreme 
Court  down,  degraded  on  the  railroads  after  purchasing 
first-class  tickets,  degraded  at  the  hotels  and  barber 
shops,  degraded  in  many  states  at  the  ballot-box, 
degraded  in  some  of  the  large  cities  by  being  com- 
pelled to  rent  houses  in  alleys  and  the  most  disreputa- 
ble streets.  Thus  we  are  degraded  in  so  many 
respects  that  all  the  starch  of  respectability  is  taken 
out  of  the  manhood  of  millions  of  our  people,  and  as 
degradation  begets  degradation,  it  is  very  possible  that 
in  many  instances  we  are  guilty  of  doing  a  series  of 
infamous  things  that  we  would  not  be  guilty  of  if  our 
environments  were  different. 

The  World's  Fair.— Think  of  it !  The  great  World's 
Fair,  or  exposition,  in  Chicago,  out  of  more  than  ten 
thousand  employes,  gave  110  recognition  to  the  colored 
race  beyond  taking  charge  of  the  toilet  rooms. 


MORAL   AND   SOCIAL   ADVANCEMENT.  175 

Half  Free  and  Half  Slave. — I  would  not  have  you 
understand  that  I  am  denying,  condoning  or  excusing 
the  crime  of  rape,  as  is  being  charged  to  a  greater  or 
less  extent  upon  the  members  of  our  race ;  nor  must 
we  jump  at  a  hasty  or  rash  conclusion ;  but  I  fear  much 
of  it,  if  true,  is  due  to  our  natural  and  immethodical 
environment  and  ignoble  status,  nor  do  I,  for  one, 
believe  that  we  will  ever  stand  out  in  the  symmetrical 
majesty  of  higher  manhood,  half  free  and  half  slave. 

The  Great  Desideratum. — The  one  great  desider- 
atum of  the  American  Negro  is  manhood  impetus. 
We  may  educate  and  acquire  general  intelligence,  but 
our  sons  and  daughters  will  come  out  of  the  college 
with  all  their  years  of  training  and  thrift  to  the  plane 
of  the  scullion,  as  long  as  they  are  restricted,  limited 
and  circumbounded  by  colorphobia.  For  abstract  edu- 
cation elevates  no  man,  nor  will  it  elevate  a  race. 
What  we  call  the  heathen  African  will  strut  around  in 
his  native  land,  three-fourths  naked,  and  you  can  see 
by  the  way  he  stands,  talks,  and  acts  that  he  possesses 
more  manhood  than  fifty  of  some  of  our  people  in  this 
country,  and  any  ten  of  our  most  distinguished  colored 
men  here. 

A  Dwarfed  People. — Until  we  are  free  from  menace 
by  lynchers,  hotels,  railroads,  stores,  factories,  restaur- 
ants, barber  shops,  machine  shops,  court  houses  and 
other  places  where  merit  and  worth  are  respected,  we 
are  destined  to  be  a  dwarfed  people.  Our  sons  and 
daughters  will  grow  up  with  it  in  their  very  flesh  and 
bones. 

Gratitude. — As  one,  I  feel  grateful  for  many  things 
that  have  been  done  for  us  within  the  last  thirty  years. 
I  am  thankful  for  Mr.  Lincoln's  manumitting  proc- 
lamation, for  its  ratification  by  Congress,  for  the  thir- 


176  PROGRESS  OF  A  RACE. 

teenth,  fourteenth  and.  fifteenth  amendments  to  the 
Constitution,  which  were  placed  there  by  the  American 
people  for  the  benefit  of  our  race,  even  if  the  United 
States  Supreme  Court  has  destroyed  the  fourteenth 
amendment  by  its  revolting  decision. 

Millions  for  Education. — I  am  thankful  to  our  gen- 
erous-hearted friends  of  the  North  who  have  given 
voluntarily  millions  upon  millions  to  aid  in  our  educa- 
tion. I  am  thankful  to  the  South  for  the  school  laws 
they  have  enacted,  and  for  the  generous  manner  in 
which  they  have  taxed  themselves  in  building  and  sus- 
taining schools  for  our  enlightenment  and  intellectual 
and  moral  elevation, 

Full- Fledged  Men. — But,  if  this  country  is  to  be  our 
home,  the  Negro  must  be  a  self-controlling,  automatic 
factor  of  the  body  politic  or  collective  life  of  the 
nation.  In  other  words,  we  must  be  full-fledged  men. 
Otherwise  we  will  not  be  worth  existence  itself. 

God  Hates  Cowardice.— To  passively  remain  here 
and  occupy  our  present  ignoble  status,  with  the  possi- 
bility of  being  shot,  hung  and  burnt,  not  only  when 
we  perpetrate  deeds  of  violence  ourselves,  but  when- 
ever some  bad  white  man  wishes  to  black  his  face  and 
outrage  a  female,  as  I  am  told  is  often  done,  is  a  matter 
of  serious  reflection.  To  do  so  would  be  to  declare  our- 
selves unfit  to  be  free  men  or  to  assume  the  responsi- 
bilities which  involve  fatherhood  and  existence.  For 
God  hates  the  submission  of  cowardice. 

Physical  Resistance. — But,  on  the  other  hand,  to  talk 
about  physical  resistance  is  literal  madness.  Nobody 
but  an  idiot  would  give  it  a  moment's  thought  The 
idea  of  eight  or  ten  millions  of  ex-slaves  contending 
with  sixty  millions  people  of  the  most  powerful  race 
under  Heaven!  Think  of  two  hundred  and  sixty-five 


MORAL  AND  SOCIAL  ADVANCEMENT.  177 

millions  of  dollars  battling  with  one  hundred  billions 
of  dollars.  Why,  we  would  not  be  a  drop  in  the 
bucket.  It  is  folly  to  indulge  in  such  a  thought  for  a 
moment. 

Debt  of  Our  Nation. — This  nation  justly,  righteously, 
divinely,  owes  us  for  work  and  service  rendered  billions 
of  dollars,  and  if  we  cannot  be  treated  as  American 
people,  we  should  ask  for  five  hundred  million  dollars 
at  least,  to  begin  an  immigration  somewhere,  if  we  can 
not  for  service  rendered  receive  manhood  recognition 
here  at  home.  Freedom  and  perpetual  degradation 
are  not  in  the  economy  of  human  events. " 

Bishop  Gaines  on  Lynching.— "The  better  class  of 
colored  people  all  over  the  South  are  unanimous  in  the 
condemnation  of  the  wretches  who  are  guilty  of  this 
unmentionable  crime.  They  recognize  the  fact  that 
the  whole  race  is  suffering  in  the  eyes  of  the  world 
through  the  conduct  of  the  vile  scoundrels  who  perpe- 
trate these  crimes.  In  many  places  the  white  people 
regard  a  Negro  with  detestation  and  suspicion,  believ- 
ing him  to  be  capable  of  any  criminal  act  where  he  is 
left  unrestrained.  From  experience  and  observation  I 
know  this  to  be  true. 

Not  in  Sympathy  with  Crime. — I  for  one  am  not 
willing  to  be  thought  in  sympathy  with  crime  or  crim- 
inals, and  especially  those  cf  the  character  I  am  now 
considering.  If  the  colored  people,  as  a  race,  expect 
to  gain  the  confidence  and  respect  of  their  white  neigh- 
bors and  to  elevate  themselves  in  the  scale  of  civilized 
life,  they  must  emphasize  in  no  uncertain  way  their 
detestation  of  that  most  brutal  of  the  race,  who  com- 
mit the  horrible  offense  of  rape,  arson  and  the  like. 
There  must  be  no  maudlin  sympathy  for  such  charac- 
ters who  disgrace  their  own  race  and  bring  the  Negro 
into  shame  and  contempt. 

12  Yrogress, 


178  PROGRESS   OF  A   RACE. 

Innocent  Men  Victims.— While  I  say  these  things  I 
would  not  be  understood  as  favoring  lynch  laws. 
Could  the  real  criminal  suffer  it  would  not  be  so  bad, 
but  when  innocent  men  are  frequently  the  victims  of 
excited  and  infuriated  mobs,  who  take  the  law  into 
their  own  hands,  the  necessity  of  legal  conviction  is 
apparent.  Lynch  law,  too,  no  matter  how  justly 
administered,  is  bad  in  its  tendency,  working  a  disre- 
gard for  all  laws  and  educating  the  people  in  the  law- 
lessness it  is  intended  to  prevent. 

Justice. — All  our  people  ask  is  that  justice  be  done — 
that  before  the  law  the  same  evidence  be  required  to 
convict  a  Negro  that  is  required  to  convict  a  white 
man,  and  that  the  same  punishment  be  meted  out  to 
the  one  as  to  the  other.  Wherever  the  proof  is  con- 
clusive let  the  guilty  suffer,  though  the  heavens  fall. 
Lynching  is  not  a  race  question  but  a  national  ques- 
tion, as  is  proven  by  the  fact  that  of  one  hundred  and 
forty-one  persons  lynched  in  1896,  fifty-four  were  white 
men. ' ' 

Temperance,  Soberness  Increasing.— "Remember- 
ing the  circumstances, "  says  Rev.  J.  C.  Price,  "in  which 
the  Negro  was  placed  by  the  dreadful  institution  of 
slavery,  it  is  not  to  be  wondered  at  that  he  now  culti- 
vates a  taste,  even  a  love,  for  alcohol.  Yet  it  is  re- 
markable to  note  the  progress  towards  sobriety  that  the 
race  has  made  in  the  latter  years  of  its  emancipation. 
A  colored  total  abstainer  is  not  a  rare  person  in  any  com- 
munity nowadays.  The  various  temperance  societies, 
and  nearly  all  the  other  secret  organizations  supported 
by  the  Afro- American  race,  uniformly  require  those 
who  seek  admission  to  pledge  themselves  to  be  sober 
men  and  women,  and  in  most  cases  to  be  total  abstain- 
ers. The  drift  is  more  and  more  in  this  direction,  and 


MORAL  AND   SOCIAL  ADVANCEMENT  179 

hence  soberness  in  the  race  is  constantly  on  the 
increase. 

Total  Abstinence. — It  is  remarkable,  too,  to  observe 
the  steadfastness  and  persistency  with  which  the  col- 
ored teachers,  as  a  rule,  hold  to  the  idea  that  the  race 
is  to  be  uplifted  morally,  as  well  as  materially  and 
religiously  improved,  through  total  abstinence  as  a 
chief  instrument.  It  is  the  rare  exception,  not  the 
rule,  to  find  a  colored  teacher  who  does  not  hold  to  this 
doctrine.  The  result  is  that  many  boys  and  girls  in 
the  school- room  all  over  the  South  and  other  sections 
as  well  are  being  trained  to  habits  of  temperance,  and 
will  in  all  probability  develop  into  consistent  temper- 
ance men  and  women.  And  it  must  not  be  forgotten 
that  the  true  and  most  influential  leaders  of  the  race, 
the  ministers,  are  molding  and  shaping  the  opinions 
of  both  old  and  young  in  favor  of  soberness  and  total 
abstinence. 

Leaders  Temperate. — I  have  watched  closely  the 
men  who  are  recognized  as  the  race  leaders  in  various 
states  and  localities.  It  is  acknowledged  that  they  are 
generally  shrewd,  calculating,  and  hard  to  circumvent 
when  they  attempt  political  maneuvers.  It  is  my  obser- 
vation that  these  leaders  are  strictly  reliable  and 
trustworthy  when  confided  in,  and — however  surpris- 
ing the  statement  may  be  to  some — that  they  are  'gen- 
erally sober,  upright  and  honest.  I  confess  that  in 
some  localities  this  rule  does  not  apply,  but  on  the 
whole  a  more  sober  class  of  leaders  does  not  exist  in 
any  race  than  in  the  Afro- American. 

Cross -Roads  Grocery. — One  of  the  evils  against 
which  our  people  have  to  contend  is  the  cross-roads 
grocery  store,  to  be  found  all  over  the  Southland — the 
bane  of  this  section.  Here,  with  no  city  or  town 


180  PROGRESS    OF   A   RACE. 

ordinance  to  make  drunkenness  an  offense,  and  to 
threaten  certain  punishment,  they  congregate  and 
drink  their  fill,  carouse,  engage  in  free  fights,  and  do 
other  hurtful  and  equally  unlawful  things,  while  no 
one  dares  molest  or  make  afraid,  and  the  grocery 
keeper,  finding  his  trade  benefited,  encourages  the 
debauchery.  This  evil,  instead  of  becoming  less, 
increases.  The  business  of  many  prosperous  towns 
and  villages  is  being  injured  seriously  by  the  competi- 
tion at  the  cross-roads,  and  the  resulting  vice,  violence 
and  impoverishment. 

Crime  Traceable  to  Liquor  Habit.— The  records  of 
the  courts  show  that  crime  among  our  people  is  trace- 
able in  a  large  majority  of  cases  to  a  too  free  exercise 
of  the  liquor  habit.  Of  the  men  belonging  to  the  race 
who  were  hanged,  I  think  it  entirely  reasonable  to  say 
that  at  least  four-fifths  committed  their  offenses  while 
under  the  influence  of  liquor.  But  speaking  of  the 
race  broadly,  and  duly  allowing  for  all  the  unusual  cir- 
cumstances that  ought  to  be  taken  into  consideration, 
I  think  it  cannot  fairly  be  charged  with  anything  like 
gross  intemperance. 

Delirium  Tremens. — It  is  something  out  of  the  usual 
order  to  come  upon  a  case  of  delirium  tremens  among 
the  Negroes.  Comparatively  few  of  them  drink  any- 
thing of  consequence  during  the  week,  but  excessive 
imbibation  is  mostly  indulged  in  on  Saturdays. 

Not  a  Race  of  Drunkards. — Therefore  this  is  not  a 
race  of  drunkards,  and  there  is  abundant  reason  for 
believing  that  with  proper  education  and  training  it 
may  be  made  a  race  of  sober  people  and  abstainers. 

Reliable  Allies. — In  order  to  strengthen  the  cause 
of  temperance  in  the  South,  nothing  is  more  important 
than  to  treat  the  Negro  fairly,  and  to  keep  faith  with 


MORAL   AND   SOCIAL   ADVANCEMENT.  181 

him,  to  permit  no  pledge  to  be  broken.  Once  won,  the 
colored  man  is  the  most  faithful  and  reliable  of  all 
allies.  It  is,  of  course,  needless  to  add  that  the  supply 
of  temperance  literature  should  be  kept  up  and 
increased. ' ' 

Educational  Institutions. — Especially  valuable  is 
the  work  of  arousing  total  abstinence  enthusiasm 
among  the  students  in  the  various  educational  insti- 
tutions— young  men,  and  women  too,  upon  whom  the 
future  of  the  race  and  its  influence  for  good  or  evil  so 
largely  depends.  I  am  indeed  hopeful  for  the  future 
of  the  Afro- American  race,  and  particularly  hopeful 
that  it  will  become  a  positive  and  influential  contributor 
to  the  triumph  of  the  temperance  reform. 

The  Shame  of  a  Christian  Nation. — It  is  estimated 
that  Christendom  has  introduced  70,000  gallons  of  rum 
into  Africa  to  every  missionary.  In  the  great  Congo 
Free  State  there  are  one  hundred  drunkards  to  one 
convert.  Under  the  maddening  influence  of  intoxicat- 
ing drink  sent  from  New  England  two  hundred  Congo- 
ans  slaughtered  each  other.  One  gallon  of  rum  caused 
a  fight  in  which  fifty  were  slain. 

A  Sad  End. — A  generation  since  there  lived  in  a 
western  city  a  wealthy  Englishman  who  was  what  is 
called  a  high  liver.  He  drank  his  toddy  in  the  morn- 
ing, washed  down  his  lunch  with  champagne,  and 
finished  a  bottle  of  port  for  dinner,  though  he  com- 
plained that  the  heavy  wines  here  did  not  agree  with 
him,  owing  to  the  climate.  He  died  of  gout  at  fifty 
years,  leaving  four  sons.  One  of  them  became  an 
epileptic,  two  died  from  drinking.  Called  good  fellows, 
generous,  witty,  honorable  young  men,  but  before 
middle  age  miserable  sots.  The  oldest  of  the  brothers 
was  a  man  of  fixed  habits,  occupying  a  leading  place 


182  PROGRESS   OF   A   RACE. 

in  the  community  from  his  keen  intelligence,  integrity 
and  irreproachable  morals.  He  watched  over  his 
brothers,  laid  them  in  their  graves,  and  never  ceased 
to  denounce  the  vice  which  had  ruined  them;  and 
when  he  was  long  past  middle  age  financial  trouble 
threw  him  into  a  low,  nervous  condition,  for  which 
wine  was  prescribed.  He  drank  but  one  bottle.  Shortly 
after  his  affairs  were  righted  and  his  health  and  spirits 
returned,  but  it  was  observed  that  once  or  twice  a  year 
he  mysteriously  disappeared  for  a  month  or  six  weeks. 
Nor  wife,  nor  children,  nor  even  his  partner,  knew 
where  he  went ;  but  at  last,  when  he  was  old  and  gray- 
headed,  his  wife  was  telegraphed  from  a  neighboring 
obscure  village  where  she  found  him  dying  of  mania  a 
potu.  He  had  been  in  the  habit  of  hiding  there  when 
the  desire  for  liquor  became  maddening,  and  when 
there  he  drank  like  a  brute. ' ' 

Temperance  Resolutions  Adopted  by  the  A.  M.  E. 
Church. — The  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
at  its  General  Conference,  held  in  Indianapolis,  Indi- 
ana, adopted  the  following  resolutions : 

"Resolved:  i.  That  we  discourage  the  manufacture, 
sale  and  use  of  all  alcoholic  and  malt  liquors. 

"2.  That  we  discourage  the  use  of  tobacco  by  our 
ministers  and  people. 

"3.   That  we  discourage  the  use  of  opium  and  snuff. 

"4.  That  we  endorse  the  great  prohibition  move- 
ment in  this  country,  also  work  done  by  the  Woman's 
Christian  Temperance  Union,  and  will  use  all  honora- 
ble means  to  suppress  the  evils  growing  out  of  intem- 
perance. 

"5.  That  it  shall  be  a  crime  for  any  minister  or 
member  of  the  A.  M.  E.  Church  to  fight  against  tem- 
perance, and  if  convicted  of  this  crime  he  shall  lose  his 
place  in  the  conference  and  the  church. ' ' 


MORAL  AND   SOCIAL   ADVANCEMENT.  183 

The  bishops  at  this  same  conference  said  in  their 
address;  "We  should  allow  no  minister,  or  member 
who  votes,  writes,  lectures  or  preaches  to  uphold  the 
mm  trade  to  retain  his  membership,  either  in  the  con- 
ference or  in  the  church.  And  those  who  are  addicted  to 
strong-  drink,  either  ministers  or  laymen,  should  have 
no  place  among  us.  Visit  our  station  houses,  bride- 
wells, jails,  almsjiouses,  and  penitentiaries,  and  you 
will  there  witness  the  effects  of  this  horror  of  horrors. 
Rum  has  dug  the  grave  of  the  American  Indian  so 
deep  that  it  will  never  be  resurrected.  If  we  would 
escape  the  same  fate  as  a  church  and  race,  we  must  be 
temperate. 

"Some  of  the  loftiest  intellects  have  been  blasted 
and  blighted  by  this  terrible  curse.  The  use  of  wine 
at  weddings  should  never  be  encouraged  by  our  minis- 
ters ;  it  is  often  the  beginning  of  a  blasted  life. ' ' 

Woman  in  Temperance.  —  Mrs.  McCurdy,  corre- 
sponding secretary  of  the  Georgia  W.  C.  T.  U.  for  col- 
ored women,  says:  "The  call  for  'God  and  home  in 
every  land,'  is  growing  to  be  more  popular  than  in 
former  years.  Ministers  all  over  the  Southland  are 
taking  hold  of  the  temperance  question  and  are  agitat- 
ing it  as  never  before.  They  see  that 

"Mental  suasion  for  the  thinker 
Moral  suasion  for  the  drinker 
Legal  suasion  for  the  drunkard  maker 
Prison  suasion  for  the  statute  breaker  " 

are  not  virtues  and  therefore  will  not  bring  about 
the  desired  end.  We  are  growing  in  numbers  and  are 
believing  that  among  the  Christian  races  temperance 
is  a  cardinal  virtue,  upon  which  physical  strength, 
moral  worth,  social  happiness  and  political  tranquillity 
depend." 


184  PROGRESS    OF    A    RACE. 

Evils  of  Alcohol  as  a  Beverage.  —The  shackles  of 
strong  drink  are  more  galling  than  were  the  shackles 
of  slavery.  In  saying  this  we  do  not  discount  the 
horrors  of  the  slave- pen  and  the  auction-block.  The 
slave-master  could  not  put  shackles  on  the  man,  the 
immortal.  President  Lincoln,  with  the  aid  of  General 
Grant  and  his  mighty  host,  could  proclaim  liberty  to 
the  captive ;  but  in  the  war  against  King  Alcohol,  each 
man  must  be  his  own  emancipator. 

The  horrors  of  intemperance  are  known  to  the  most 
thoughtless.  Every  intelligent  person  knows  the 
awful  effects  of  alcohol  on  the  intellectual,  moral,  and 
religious  nature  of  man.  But,  strange  as  it  may 
seem,  "the  multitude"  believe  that  alcphol  has  the 
power  to  give  life,  vitality,  energy,  force  to  the  body ; 
that  it  is  needful  in  heat  or  cold.  But,  listen !  The  fol- 
lowing statements  are  made  by  the  president  of  one  of 
the  largest  life  insurance  companies  in  America:  "A 
group  of  total  abstainers,  aged  20,  will,  on  the  average, 
live  44. 2  years  apiece ;  a  group  of  moderate  drinkers, 
aged  20,  will,  on  the  average,  live  15.6  years  apiece. 
A  group  of  total  abstainers,  aged  30,  will,  on  the  aver- 
age, live  36.5  years  apiece;  a  group  of  moderate  drink- 
ers, aged  30,  will,  on  the  average,  live  13  years  apiece. 
A  group  of  total  abstainers,  aged  40,  will,  on  the  aver- 
age, live  28.8  years  apiece;  a  group  of  moderate  drink- 
ers, aged  40,  will,  on  the  average,  live  n.6  years 
apiece." 

It  will  be  seen  by  the  above  testimony  that  total  ab- 
stainers between  the  ages  of  20  and  40  have  23  years' 
advantage  over  the  users  of  alcoholic  beverages  in  the 
expectancy  of  life.  This,  of  course,  has  reference  to 
the  average  man  of  his  class. 

Smoking  a  Grime. — Tobacco  was  early  introduced 
into  Europe.  Its  use,  however,  was  condemned,  and 


MORAL  AND  SOCIAL  ADVANCEMENT.  185 

the  Sultan  of  Turkey  declared  smoking  a  crime,  and 
death  of  the  most  cruel  kind  was  fixed  as  the  punish- 
ment. In  Russia,  the  "  noses  of  the  smokers  were  cut 
off  in  the  earlier  part  of  the  seventeenth  century." 
Its  use  vas  described  by  King  James  I  of  England,  as 
"a  custom  loathsome  to  the  eye,  hateful  to  the  nose, 
harmful  to  the  brain,  dangerous  to  the  lungs,  and  in 
the  black,  linking  fume  thereof  nearest  resembling 
the  horrible  Stygian  smoke  of  the  pit  that  is  bottom- 
less." 

Tobacco  a  Poison.— Dr.  J.  H.  Kellogg,  M.  D.,  in 
Health  Science  Leaflet,  No.  216,  says:  "Chemists, 
botanists  and  physicians  unite  in  pronouncing  tobacco 
one  of  the  most  deadly  poisons  known.  No  other 
poison,  with  the  exception  of  Prussic  acid,  will  cause 
death  so  quickly,  only  three  or  four  minutes  being 
required  for  a  fatal  dose  to  produce  its  full  effect. 

Nicotine. — "The  active  principle  of  tobacco,  that  is, 
that  to  which  its  narcotic  and  poisonous  properties  are 
due,  is  nicotine,  a  heavy,  oily  substance  which  may  be 
separated  from  the  dry  leaf  of  the  plant  by  distillation 
or  infusion.  The  proportion  of  nicotine  varies  from 
two  to  eight  per  cent.  A  pound  of  tobacco  contains  on 
an  average  380  grains  of  this  deadly  poison,  of  which 
one-tenth  of  a  grain  will  kill  a  dog  in  ten  minutes. 

Killed  in  Thirty  Seconds. — "A  case  is  on  record  in 
which  a  man  was  killed  in  thirty  seconds  by  this  poison. 
Hottentots  use  the  oil  of  tobacco  to  kill  snakes,  a  single 
drop  causing  death  as  quickly  as  a  lightning  stroke. 
It  is  largely  used  by  gardeners  and  keepers  of  green- 
houses to  destroy  grubs  and  noxious  insects  (its  proper 
usefulness)." 

Habit  of  Smoking. — The  habit  of  smoking  was  dis- 
covered on  the  island  of  Cuba.  Two  sailors  who  were 


186 


PROGRESS    OF    A    RACE. 


sent  by  Columbus  to  explore  the  island  report  that: 
"Among  many  other  strange  and  curious  discoveries, 
the  natives  carried  with  them  lighted  fire  brands,  and 
puffed  smoke  from  their  mouths  and  noses,  which  they 
supposed  to  be  the  way  savages  had  for  perfuming 
themselves.  They  afterwards  declared  that  they  'saw 


ROBERT  H.  BONNER,  ORISHANTKEH   FREDREMAS. 

New  Haven,  Conn.        Grad.  Theol.  Dept,  Ceylon,  West  Africa. 

CHAS.  H.  BOYER,  HENRY  H.  PROCTOR. 

Maryland  Academical  Dept.        Graduate  Theological  Dept., 

Yale  University. 

the   naked  savages  twist  large   leaves   together   and 
smoke  like  devils. '  ' ' 

Filthy  and  Pernicious. — The  use  of  tobacco  is  both 
filthy  and  pernicious.  "Keep  thyself  pure,"  was 
Paul's  injunction  to  Timothy;  and  again  he  says,  "Let 


MORAL  AND  SOCIAL  ADVANCEMENT.  181 

us  cleanse  ourselves  from  all  filthiness  of  the  flesh  and 
spirit."  "If  any  man  defile  the  temple  of  God,  him 
shall  God  destroy ;  for  the  temple  of  God  is  holy,  which 
temple  we  are. ' ' 

Leaders  Needed. — Since  the  death  of  Dr.  J.  C.  Price, 
of  Livingstone  College,  Rev.  J.  H.  Hector,  of  York, 
Pa.,  is  the  most  popular  temperance  lecturer  of  the 
race.  The  race  sadly  needs  a  great  leader  in  the  tem- 
perance work,  a  leader  who  will  inspire  the  hosts  to 
active  and  progressive  measures. 

Moral  Status. — President  Wright  says:  "One  who 
does  not  know  the  character  of  the  moral  lives  of  the 
colored  people  at  the  emancipation  is  incapable  of  ren- 
dering an  opinion  as  to  the  Negro's  moral  status  now. 
It  is  extremely  difficult  to  measure  the  distance  of  the 
advancement  or  to  estimate  the  weight  and  quality  of 
the  good  that  has  been  done.  No  people  have  made 
further  advancement  in  moral  and  Christian  character. 
The  schools  have  given  them  eyes  to  see.  Eyes  to 
see  themselves  as  others  saw  them,  and  year  after 
year  vice  and  ignorance  have  become  odious..  In  1865 
there  was  scarcely  any  Negro  homes  in  all  Georgia. 
In  1870  they  could  be  easily  counted.  Who  but  the 
census  taker  would  undertake  such  a  task  to-day? 
There  is  taxable  property  of  some  sixteen  millions  of 
dollars,  and  thousands  of  comfortable  homes  in  the 
city  and  rural  districts.  None  have  become  very  rich 
but  many  have  made  a  good  start  in  life.  There  are 
over  five  hundred  good  business  establishments  whose 
affairs  are  conducted  wholly  by  colored  men. 

Business  World. — The  Negro  is  taking  a  reliable, 
useful,  and  honorable  place  in  the  business  and  indus- 
trial world.  He  is  becoming  an  intelligent  producer 
and  developer  of  the  resources  of  this  great  state. 


188  PROGRESS   OF   A   RACE. 

Under  the  benign  influence  of  private  and  public  schools 
he  is  becoming  patriotic;  he  is  purchasing  land  and 
fixing  himself  to  the  soil. 

Discourtesies  and  Insults. — He  is  becoming  more 
sensitive  with  regard  to  discourtesies  and  insults.  His 
restiveness  is  the  natural  result  of  his  increased  intelli- 
gence and  love  for  his  country  in  common  with  others. 
He  may  even  grow  defiant  in  the  face  of  these  out- 
rages, if  continued.  The  intelligence  and  means 
among  the  colored  people  inspire  confidence  and  respect 
on  the  part  of  the  whites.  There  is  practically  no 
trouble  or  possibility  of  trouble  between  the  intelli- 
gent and  upright  colored  people  and  the  same  class  of 
white  people.  This  is  what  Christian  and  industrial 
education  has  done.  The  Negro,  or  Southern  prob- 
lem, finds  its  key  in  the  education  of  the  race.  The 
Negro  should  not  only  be  given  every  opportunity  the 
state  can  afford  for  elementary  education,  but  should 
be  urged  to  avail  himself  of  these  opportunities. 

Criminals. — There  are  in  Georgia  more  than  five 
thousand  Negro  criminals ;  about  twice  the  number  of 
colored  teachers.  Very  few  of  these  criminals  can  read 
or  write.  Here  is  found  the  connection  between  crime 
and  ignorance.  Education  is  not  a  panacea  for  crime, 
but,  in  proportion  to  the  intelligence  of  the  colored 
people  of  a  given  community,  the  number  of  actual 
and  alleged  crimes  among  that  class  of  citizens  has 
decreased. 

Professions. — There  are  in  Georgia  some  twenty- 
five  physicians,  two  pharmacists,  seven  lawyers,  and 
half  a  dozen  newspaper  editors.  Some  of  these,  how- 
ever, have  not  been  broadly  educated.  What  Georgia 
needs  most  is  men  who  can  clearly  and  wisely  state  the 
needs  of  the  colored  people. 


MORAL   AND   SOCIAL   ADVANCEMENT.  189 

Trade  Education. — While  the  work  in  the  schools 
has  included  industrial  training,  yet  very  little  legiti- 
mate and  genuine  trade  teaching  has  been  done  until 
within  the  last  few  years.  The  entire  number  of  per- 
sons who  have  learned,  in  all  these  schools,  enough  of 
a  trade  to  make  them  as  safe  in  following  it  as  it  would 
in  attempting  to  teach  school,  is  very  small.  This  is 
the  natural  result  of  the  beginnings.  There  is,  how- 
ever, an  awakening  on  these  lines,  and  a  demand  for 
abler  and  better  teachers  and  advantages  in  industrial 
work.  The  colored  people  are  at  a  point  in  their 
natural  and  material  development  when  everybody 
recognizes  the  pressing  need  of  more  attention  to  the 
teaching  of  trades.  The  march  of  the  Negro  race 
towards  the  better  day  will  not  be  only  along  the  class 
of  classic  learning,  but  its  pathway  of  victory  must  be 
as  well  through  the  physical  sciences  and  along  the 
avenues  of  industrial  and  business  enterprises.  The 
demands  of  the  times  are  for  genuine  industrial  teach- 
ing, which  sends  a  young  man  into  the  world  with  an 
industrial  bent  that  fits  him  for  his  life  work;  that 
gives  him  a  trade  by  which  he  may  support  himself  and 
benefit  the  world. 

Patents. — The  colored  patentees  of  the  Union  are 
credited  with  more  than  sixty  useful  inventions.  This 
clearly  shows  that  the  Negro  has  genius  and  skill,  and 
the  means  and  opportunities  now  presented  aid  in  the 
development  and  training  of  their  genius.  Perhaps  no 
other  school  can  come  nearer  to  filling  the  demands 
than  the  industrial  school  well  equipped  and  with  a 
liberal  curriculum. 

Debt  of  Gratitude. — The  colored  people  of  the  South 
are  under  an  everlasting  debt  of  gratitude  to  the  phil- 
anthropists of  the  country,  north  and  south,  who  have 


190  PROGRESS   OF   A   RACE. 

done  so  much  to  raise  them  from  their  low  estate. 
While  it  is  difficult  to  estimate  the  amount  of  money 
spent  by  the  states  and  different  benevolent  institu- 
tions for  the  education  of  the  colored  people,  the  fact 
remains  that  a  great  and  grand  work  has  been  done, 
and  is  being  done,  for  their  education. 

Our  Country. — There  are  many  and  almost  ancient 
ties  that  bind  the  Negro  to  the  United  Stats.  There 
are  numerous  reasons  why  he  should  feel  as  much  at 
home  on  the  American  soil  as  any  man  of  any  other 
nation  that  treads  our  shores.  Among  America's 
earliest  explorers  and  discoverers,  some  of  the  boldest 
and  bravest,  and  most  successful  of  our  citizens,  as 
early  as  1529,  were  woolly-haired  Negroes.  From  then 
until  now,  whether  he  is  happy  and  prosperous  in  his 
Southland,  or  fighting  the  battles  of  the  nation,  the  Ne- 
gro, by  sweat  and  blood,  identified  himself  with  every 
phase  and  fiber  of  the  American  history  and  life.  The 
pathway  of  the  race  has  not  been  strewn  with  flowers, 
but  it  has  steadily  led  towards  the  light.  And  to-day 
the  Negro  stands  upon  higher  ground,  where  the  light 
of  liberty  shines  upon  him  more  steadily.  Standing 
here,  new  duties,  new  responsibilities,  await  him. 
In  this  broader  day  the  demand  is  for  more  men  of 
thought  and  action. 

Does  Not  Crave  Domination,  but  Equality.— The 
Negro  craves  not  domination.  He  simply  asks  for 
equalization  of  rights  and  privileges,  such  as  belong  to 
American  citizens  under  the  fundamental  law  of  the 
land.  As  an  American  citizen  he  cannot  ask  less  nor 
be  contented  with  less. ' ' 

Prejudice.— "Talks  for  the  Times"  says:  HThereare 
but  very  few  white  people  in  this  country  who  are 
capable  of  passing  fair judgment  upon  us  as  a  race,  for 


MORAL  AND   SOCIAL   ADVANCEMENT.  191 

the  large  majority  of  them  do  not  associate  with  us. 
The  Jews  have  no  extensive  communion  with  the 
Samaritans.  Now,  it  is  a  law  in  optics  that  the  size  of 
the  visual  angle  varies  with  the  distance  of  the  body, 
and  an  object  looks  smaller  as  we  recede  from  it. 
On  this  principle  it  is  easy  to  account  for  the  absurd 
and  strange  opinions  of  many  of  our  white  friends  con- 
cerning us.  They  stand  off  at  so  magnificent  a  dis- 
tance from  the  Negro  that  they  either  lose  sight  of  him 
altogether,  or  what  they  do  see  of  him  seems  insignifi- 
cant and  contemptible. 

Corruption  of  Public  Men.— I  am  proud,  too,  to 
know,  that  in  this  transition  period  of  ours  we  have 
among  us  a  few  public  men  of  unimpeachable  charac- 
ter. When  Oscar  Dunn  was  lieutenant-governor  of 
Louisiana  a  certain  white  man,  interested  in  a  bill 
before  the  legislature,  endeavored  by  the  use  of 
money,  to  secure  Mr.  Dunn's  influence  in  favor  of  that 
bill.  The  reply  of  that  noble  Negro  was  as  withering 
as  it  was  laconic:  *Sir, '  said  he,  'my  conscience  is  not 
for  sale.'  In  that  memorable  presidential  election 
when  Messrs.  Hayes  and  Tilden  were  candidates,  a 
colored  man  in  one  of  those  Southern  states,  at  that 
time  a  member  of  the  electoral  college,  was  approached 
by  a  white  man  and  offered  fifty  thousand  dollars  for 
his  vote  for  Mr.  Tilden,  being  informed,  at  the  same 
time,  that  it  was  a  'graveyard  secret,'  and  that  if  he 
ever  exposed  the  offerer  of  that  sum  death  would  be  the 
penalty.  I  am  proud  to  say  that  brave  and  faithful 
man  rejected  with  scorn  the  proffered  bribe.  Would 
Anglo-Saxon  morality  have  stood  a  better  test  against 
gilded  corruption?" 

Toward  the  Light. — Professor  Bo  wen  says:  "Before 
the  war  the  Negro  was  a  dumb  driven  and  a  dumb 


192  PROGRESS  OF  A  RAC!. 

used  cattle  for  work  and  for  breeding.  Shame,  the 
virtue  that  Eve  brought  out  of  the  Garden  with  her, 
that  belongs  alike  to  heathen  and  to  Christian,  was 
mocked,  insulted  and  trampled  under  the  merciless 
hoofs.  The  women  were  the  tools  for  lechery.  The 
whole  head  of  the  race  was  sick  and  the  heart  was  faint ; 
bruises  and  putrefying  sores  covered  the  body  of  the 
race.  To-day,  in  education,  in  morals,  in  spiritual 
power,  the  Negro  is  far  superior.  He  marries  accord- 
ing to  law,  rears  his  family  in  a  home  of  culture  and 
morality,  and  reaches  up  with  divine  aspirations  to  the 
ideal  perfections  of  human  nature.  The  women  are 
women.  And  while  it  is  true  that,  as  a  mass,  the  race 
has  not  yet  attained  unto  all  perfection,  yet  they  press 
with  vigor  toward  the  mark  and  are  far  removed  from 
that  dark  age.  They  are  purer,  their  preachers  have 
improved  and  are  still  improving  in  all  the  elements 
of  moral  power. 

Progress  Since  Freedom. — Says  E.  A.  Johnson,  in 
his  history  of  the  Negro  race:  " Through  a  century 
and  a  half  we  have  traced  our  ancestors'  history. 
We  have  seen  how  they  performed  the  hard  tasks 
assigned  them  by  their  masters ;  followed  the  h(pe  and 
the  plow  with  a  laugh  and  a  song ;  making  magnificent 
estates,  building  mansions,  furnishing  them  with  the 
splendor  of  the  times;  so  eager  in  patriotism  as  to  be 
the  first  to  shed  their  blood  on  the  altar  of  their 
country's  liberty.  All  this  they  did  with  no  other  hope 
of  reward  than  a  slave's  cabin  and  a  life  of  bondage  for 
themselves  and  children.  Scarcely  have  they  ever 
sought  revenge  in  riot  and  bloodshed.  Stolen  from  a 
home  of  savage  freedom,  they  found  themselves  in 
straitened  circumstances  as  slaves  in  America,  but 
the  greatness  of  the  Negro's  nature  crops  out  plainly 


1.  Proprietor  of  Black's  Hotel,  Evansville.  Ind. 

2.  Successful  Stove  Repairer,  Decatur,  111. 

3.  Cigar  Manufacturer,  Philadelphia. 

4.  Restaurateur  and  Caterer,  Decatur,  111. 

5.  Prominent  Business  Man. 


194  PROGRESS    OF   A   RACK. 

selfish  interest  to  the  slave  as  his  property  somewhat 
modified  the  venom  that  might  have  more  often  visited 
itself  upon  the  unfortunate  slave  in  lashes  and  stripes. 

Many  Affections  and  Friendships  formed  between 
master  and  slave  exist  to  the  present  day.  Some  slaves 
are  still  at  the  old  homestead,  conditions  entirely 
reversed,  voting  differently  at  the  polls,  but  friends  at 
home ;  and  in  death  the  family  of  one  follows  that  of 
the  other  to  the  grave. 

When  the  War  Ended  the  whole  South  was  in  an 
unsettled  condition,  property  destroyed,  thousands  of 
her  sons  dead  on  the  battlefield,  no  credit,  conquered. 
But  if  the  condition  of  the  whites  was  bad,  that  of  the 
blacks  was  worse.  They  were  without  homes,  money, 
or  learning.  They  were  now  to  feed,  clothe  and  pro- 
tect themselves  in  a  government  whose  treasury  they 
had  enriched  with  two  and  a  half  centuries  of  unre- 
quited labor,  and  a  country  whose  laws  they  must  obey 
but  could  not  read. 

It  Was  Natural  that  they  should  make  mistakes. 
But  they  made  less  mistakes  than  the  bummers  who 
came  south  for  plunder  during  reconstruction  times, 
and  with  the  false  promise  of  "forty  acres  and  a  mule, " 
led  the  unlettered  race  into  a  season  of  idleness  and 
vain  hopes.  But  this  condition  did  not  last.  The 
Negro  inherited  the  ability  to  work  from  the  institu- 
tion of  slavery.  He  soon  set  about  to  utilize  this 
ability.  I  ask,  what  race  could  have  done  more.  And 
this  the  Negro  has  done,  though  virtually  ostracised 
from  the  avenues  of  trade  and  speculation.  His  admis- 
sion to  a  trades  union  is  the  exception  rather  than  the 
rule  in  America.  A  colored  boy  taking  a  place  as  a 
porter  in  a  store  at  the  same  time  with  a  white  boy, 
may  find  the  white  boy  soon  promoted  to  a  clerkship, 


MORAL  AND   SOCIAL   ADVANCEMENT.  195 

then  to  a  partnership  in  the  firm,  if  he  is  smart ;  but 
the  colored  boy  remains,  year  after  year,  where  he  first 
commenced,  no  matter  how  worthy,  no  matter  how 
competent.  His  lot  is  that  of  a  menial;  custom 
assigns  him  there,  and  in  looking  for  clerks  and  part- 
ners he  is  not  thought  of  by  the  white  business  man;- 
and  thus,  by  the  rigid  laws  of  custom,  he  has  continu- 
ally lost  golden  opportunities  to  forge  his  fortune ;  yet 
he  has  prospered  in  spite  of  this,  and  it  bespeaks  for 
him  a  superior  manhood." 

Best  Specimens  of  Physical  Manhood.— Under  the 
influence  of  civilized  customs  and  habits,  they  have 
improved  in  form  and  feature,  until  they  have  become 
strong,  well  proportioned,  and  can  furnish  some  of  the 
finest  specimens  of  physical  manhood  in  the  world. 
They  have  improved  equally  in  mental  and  moral 
traits.  From  naked  barbarians  they  have  become  civ- 
ilized Christians.  From  groveling  and  stupid  savages 
they  have  become  intelligent  and  industrious  work- 
men, skilled  in  many  of  the  arts  and  all  of  the  handi- 
crafts of  civilized  life.  By  this  vast  progress  in  so 
short  a  period,  the  Negroes  have  demonstrated  a 
capacity,  an  aptitude  for  improvement,  which  should 
make  us  hesitate  [to  predict  that  they  cannot  finally 
ascend,  under  favorable  conditions,  to  the  highest 
heights  of  human  development.  In  that  event  the 
argument  based  on  the  inferiority  and  the  color  of  the 
Negro  must  vanish. 

Not  in  Color. — Dr.  Haygood  truly  says :  "The  Negro 
cannot  rise  simply  because  he  is  black ;  the  white  man 
cannot  stay  up  simply  because  he  is  white.  A  man 
rises,  not  by  the  color  of  his  skin,  but  by  intelligence, 
industry  and  integrity.  The  foremost  man  in  these 
excellencies  and  virtues  must,  in  the  long  run,  be  also 
the  brightest  man. " 


196  PROGRESS    OF   A   RACE. 

Remarkable  Advancement.— It  should  be  remem- 
bered that  less  than  thirty  years  ago  the  Negro  started 
with  less  than  nothing,  having,  as  a  slave,  acquired 
habits  of  thriftlessness  and  wastefulness,  unfitting  him 
for  the  accumulation  of  property.  In  one  generation 
he  has  managed  to  accumulate  and  pile  up  an  aggre- 
gate of  wealth  that  is  simply  enormous. 

Still  in  Idleness. — It  is  true  that  a  considerable  per- 
centage of  the  race  still  retain  their  habits  of  idleness 
which  characterized  them  as  slaves.  It  is  true  that  a 
large  percentage  exhibit  talents  for  accumulation,  but 
are  content  to  earn  from  day  to  day  the  wages  of  the 
day  before,  trusting  to  providence  for  the  future. 
But  there  is  a  rapidly  increasing  number  of  those  who 
exhibit  decided  financial  ability. 

Honored  Mention. — Starting  in  the  most  humble 
way,  with  limited  intelligence  and  exceedingly  circum- 
scribed knowledge  in  a  manner  in  which  economy  is  to 
be  practiced,  they  have  gone  on  from  year  to  year 
accumulating  a  little  until  the  savings,  as  represented 
by  their  property,  have  built  churches,  erected  schools, 
paid  teachers  and  preachers  and  greatly  improved  the 
home  and  home  life.  These  results,  coming  through 
the  humble  earnings  of  day  labor  deserve  honorable 
mention. 

Just  Judgment. — It  is  frequently  the  case  that  in 
contemplating  the  race  as  a  mass  it  is  judged  by  its 
worst  representatives.  This  is  unkind  and  unjust. 
The  colored  people  of  the  South  cannot  justly  be  judged 
by  the  criminals  among  them,  who  have  become  con- 
spicuous for  their  evil  deeds.  They  should  rather  be 
judged  by  the  honest,  hard-working  men  and  women, 
who,  beginning  with  nothing,  in'the  course  of  one  gen- 
eration accumulated  an  amount  of  property  that  even  in 
our  magnificent  wealth  forms  no  inconspicuous  portion. 


.  Lil  I  i 5.11  J.  5 JtiODQ  e>^y.  f 


1.  Prominent  Leader  and  Kindergartner  in  Chicago. 

2.  President  of  Woman  s  Conference  in  Chicago. 

3.  Leading  Club  Woman  and  High  School  Teacher.  Kansas  City. 

4.  A  Prominent  Leader  in  Worcester,  Mass. 

5  Stenographer  of  Garnet  Transfer  Co.,  Louisville.  Ky. 


FANNIE    BARRIER    WILLIAMS 


CHAPTER  IX. 

CLUB  MOVEMENT  AMONG    NEGRO  WOMEN. 

Written  expressly  for  this  work  by  Fannie  Barrier  Williams. 

The  Negro  Woman  in  the  United  States  has  had  a 
difficult  task  in  her  efforts  to  earn  for  herself  a  char- 
acter in  the  social  life  of  this  country.  By  a  sort  of 
national  common  consent,  she  has  had  no  place  in  the 
Republic  of  free  and  independent  womanhood  of 
America  Slavery  left  her  in  social  darkness,  and 
freedom  has  been  slow  in  leading  her  into  the  day- 
light of  the  virtues,  the  refinements  and  the  blessed 
influences  that  center  in  and  radiate  from  the  life  of 
American  free  women.  With  individual  exceptions, 
the  colored  woman,  as  the  mother  of  a  distinctive  race 
in  America,  has  been  unknown.  She  has  excited 
neither  pity  nor  hope.  The  domestic  routine  of  her 
household  or  cabin  duties  seemed  to  be  her  fixed 
status.  She  has  been  looked  upon  as  a  being  without 
romance,  incapable  of  exciting  any  of  the  sweet  senti- 
ments of  femininity,  any  of  the  poetry  of  heart,  or 
any  of  those  delightful  votaries  that  have  glorified 
with  song  and  chivalry  the  relationships  of  men  and 
women. 

Slavery  in  America  was  debasing,  but  the  debase- 
ment of  the  Negro  woman  was  deeper  than  that  of  the 
Negro  man.  Slavery  made  her  the  only  woman  in  all 
America  for  whom  virtue  was  not  an  ornament  and  a 
necessity.  What  a  terrible  inheritance  is  this  for  the 
women  of  a  race  declared  to  be  emancipated  and  equal 
sharers  in  the  glories  and  responsibilities  of  the 
Republic! 

107 


198  PROGRESS    OF    A    RACE. 

Did  the  Great  Work  of  "reconstruction"  after  the 
war  of  1860  begin  here  at  the  root  of  all  the  Negro's 
ills?  No,  "reconstruction"  was  mainly  political  and 
not  social.  It  was  the  work  of  practical  statesmen,  in 
which  the  sociologist  had  no  part.  Through  all  the 
clamor  and  confusion  of  those  stirring  times,  the 
woman,  scorned,  subjective  and  silent,  was  covered 
with  a  hateful  obscurity.  She  was  simply  unknown 
and  unconsidered.  It  is  true  that  the  Negro  race  as 
a  whole  was  not  obscure.  The  enthusiasm  and  ex- 
altation born  of  the  triumphs  of  freedom  and  national 
unity,  swept  the  Negro  into  a  prominence  that  was 
simply  phenomenal.  The  Negro  unmanacled  had  been 
the  dream  of  one  half  of  the  country  during  many 
years  of  strife,  and  when  that  dream  became  a  fact, 
the  Nation  seemed  to  be  fairly  dazed  by  the  very 
magnitude  of  its  achievements.  In  those  great  days 
of  national  exaltation  over  the  riddance  of  slavery 
and  the  saving  of  the  Union,  the  terms  freedom, 
equality  and  citizenship  were  clothed  with  a  potency 
that  seemed  capable  of  working  miracles.  Making 
the  colored  people  free  and  equal  seemed  equivalent 
to  making  them  equal  to  every  task  that  befits  men 
of  inherited  enlightenment.  While  the  Nation  was 
being  swept  along  by  this  kind  of  idealism,  it  was 
easy  for  colored  men  to  be  elected  as  governors  of 
states,  as  state  legislators,  as  congressmen,  as  United 
State  senators,  and  to  secure  important  appointments 
in  the  diplomatic  and  civil  service  of  the  government. 
Nothing  so  delighted  the  people  of  this  great  Nation 
as  to  witness  this  wonderful  transformation  scene 
"From  the  plantation  to  the  halls  of  Congress."  The 
Nation  was  so  proud  of  itself  that  thousands  of  colored 
men  worthily  and  unworthily  occupied  the  front  of 


CLUB    MOVEMENT    AMONG    NEGRO    WOMEN.  199 

the  stage.     These  prominent  Negroes  filled  the  public 
eye. 

Of  course  such  coinmon-place  things  as  home- 
making,  family  establishment,  industrial  and  social  in- 
dependence and  the  many  social  economies  and  refine- 
ments that  make  for  race-character  were  not  thought 
of.  It  seemed  to  be  taken  for  granted  that  a  people 
who  could  produce  statesmen  so  quickly  must  have  all 
those  minor  virtues  and  equipments  that  in  other  pro- 
gressive races  are  the  basis  of  human  greatness. 

The  Negro  as  a  Social  Factor.— It  took  the  people 
of  this  country  a  long  time  to  learn  and  understand 
that  the  Negro  as  a  social  factor,  as  a  home-maker,  as 
an  equal  participator  in  all  the  civil  rights  and  privi- 
leges and  responsibilities,  as  a  contributor  to  the  vir- 
tues and  vices  of  the  Nation,  was  more  important  than 
the  Negro  as  a  mere  voter  and  office  seeker.  It  took 
the  colored  people  a  long  time  to  realize  that  to  be  a 
citizen  of  the  United  States  was  serious  business,  and 
that  a  seat  in  Congress  was  an  insecure  prominence 
unless  supported  by  good  women,  noble  mothers, 
family  integrity  and  pure  homes.  It  was  not  until 
the  Negro  race  began  to  have  some  consciousness  of 
these  primary  things,  that  the  women  of  the  race  be- 
came objects  of  interest  and  study. 

It  must  not  be  understood  that  during  all  of  this 
period  of  the  colored  man's  political  ascendency  and 
the  colored  woman's  social  obscurity  that  she  was 
altogether  unprogressive.  In  spite  of  some  of  the 
unspeakable  demoralizations  of  slavery,  the  woman- 
hood of  the  race  was  marked  by  many  of  the  virtues, 
mental  and  social,  that  are  characteristic  of  the 
women  of  all  races  who  are  capable  of  a  high  state  of 
development. 


200  PROGRESS    OF    A    RACE. 

Not  a  Cheap  Set  of  Women. — One  of  the  curious, 
but  creditable  things  for  which  the  Negro  race  has 
been  given  but  slight  praise  is  that  emancipation 
found  thousands  of  colored  women,  both  North  and 
South,  who  could  read  and  write,  and  who  were 
guided  and  governed  by  womanly  instincts  and 
womanly  principles.  They  were  not  a  cheap  set  of 
women  in  the  sense  that  their  souls  were  dulled  and 
uncultured.  The  fact  is  that  the  Negro  woman  in 
America  has  always  been  one  of  the  most  persistent 
of  students.  Though  the  laws  and  customs  in  the 
southern  half  of  the  country  made  it  a  crime  to  teach 
the  Negro  to  read  and  write,  and  though  race  hatred 
and  mob  violence  rendered  it  perilous  for  any  colored 
person  to  seek  an  education,  yet  in  the  northern  half 
thousands  of  colored  women  were  educated. 

There  were  thousands  of  colored  women  in  the 
South  who  could  not  read  and  write,  but  they  had  an 
enlightenment  of  heart  and  mind  that  meant  some- 
times more  than  a  knowledge  of  the  three  "R's." 
The  noble  mother  of  Frederick  Douglass  was  an  in- 
teresting type  of  thousands  of  women  who  came  out 
of  slavery  pure,  strong  and  capable  of  the  best  things 
of  which  the  best  of  women  are  capable. 

In  the  Northern  States  before  the  war  hundreds  of 
colored  women  secured  their  education  in  secret 
schools.  The  colored  people  living  in  the  free  states 
cried  out  for  learning,  and  the  colored  young  women 
were  the  ones  most  benefited.  Such  persecuted 
schools  as  the  famous  Canterbury  Seminary,  taught  by 
Prudence  Crandall  in  Canterbury,  Connecticut,  trained 
many  of  the  young  women  who  afterwards  became 
pioneers  in  the  larger  and  freer  work  of  education  of 
colored  youth.  Nearly  every  woman  thus  educated 


CLUB   MOVEMENT    AMONG    NEGRO    WOMEN.  201 

dedicated  herself  to  the  work  of  teaching.  To  these 
women  the  colored  race  is  almost  wholly  indebted 
for  the  general  intelligence  that  was  found  among 
the  colored  people  of  the  North  and  that  enabled 
them  to  be  leaders  in  the  early  days  of  freedom. 
The  colored  women  who  laid  the  foundation  of  Negro 
intelligence  in  the  Northern  states  form  an  interesting 
group.  Among  those  deserving  of  more  than  a  mere 
mention  are  Mrs.  Fannie  Jackson  Coppin  of  Phila- 
delphia, Blanche  V.  H.  Brooks,  Frances  Ellen  Watkins 
Harper,  Mrs.  D.  I.  Hayden,  Mrs.  S.  W.  Early  of  Ten- 
nessee, Mrs.  Mary  A.  Shadd,  Maria  Becraft,  Mrs. 
Charlotte  F.  Grimke,  Mrs.  Henry  H.  Garnett  and  Miss 
Fannie  Richards  of  Detroit,  Michigan.  The  work  of 
no  group  of  women  in  America  is  more  easily  trace- 
able in  the  character  and  lives  of  good  men  and 
women  than  is  that  of  these  early  colored  educators. 
By  common  consent  Mrs.  Fannie  Jackson  Coppin  ranks 
first  in  mental  equipment,  in  natural  gifts  and  achieve- 
ments among  colored  teachers.  She  was  among  the 
first  colored  women  of  this  country  to  receive  a  college 
education,  having  graduated  from  Oberlin.  She  was 
also  the  first  colored  woman  who  was  permitted  to 
teach  in  the  training  school  of  Oberlin.  From  Ober- 
lin she  went  to  Philadelphia,  where  for  more  than  thirty 
years  she  was  principal  of  the  Institution  for  Colored 
Youth,  and  was  the  most  thoroughly  controlling  influ- 
ence in  moulding  the  lives  and  character  of  the  colored 
people  of  that  great  city.  Mrs.  Coppin  would  be 
regarded  as  eminent  in  any  race  where  superior  worth 
and  dominent  influence  for  good  are  recognized  and 
properly  rewarded. 
Mrs.  Frances  Eilea  Watkias  Harper's  life  and  influ- 


202  PROGRESS    OF    A    RACE. 

ence  are  a  part  of  the  permanent  good  for  which  the 
Negro  stands  in  this  country. 

As  teacher,  lecturer  and  writer  of  story  and  verse, 
she  was  in  her  earlier  life  more  than  a  promise  of  the 
Dunbars,  the  Campbells  and  Chestnuts  of  a  later 
generation. 

Along  with  these  women  was  Charlotte  Forten 
Grimke,  representing  two  family  names  well  known 
in  American  history.  Unlike  Mrs.  Coppin  and  Mrs. 
Harper,  Mrs.  Grimke  was  not  a  public  woman  in  its 
strictest  sense;  hers  was  a  gentle  and  unobtrusive 
spirit.  She  was  one  of  the  early  teachers  in  the  great 
missionary  work  of  fitting  a  new  race  for  high  tasks. 
Her  fine  poetic  and  artistic  taste,  her  exceptional  gift 
as  a  writer  brought  her  into  a  congenial  fellowship 
with  some  of  the  most  eminent  literary  men  and 
women  of  our  times.  A  more  refined  and  unaffected 
character,  a  more  thoroughly  cultured  woman  can 
scarcely  be  found  among  those  who  helped  to  give 
character  and  grace  to  womanhood  of  the  colored 
race  in  America. 

The  Howards,  the  Reasons,  the  Ray  Sisters  of  New 
York  and  of  a  later  generation  can  be  safely  classed 
among  those  who  have  helped  to  make  the  history, 
which  marks  the  intellectual  growth  of  the  Negro  race 
during  the  past  twenty-five  years. 

White  Women. — It  is  but  justice  also  to  acknowl- 
edge that  hundreds  of  educated,  refined  and  thor- 
oughly white-souled  white  women  cheerfully  left  home 
and  all  the  delights  of  life  in  the  North  and  went 
South  to  ostracism  and  contempt  with  hearts  and 
hands  full  of  humane  helpfulness.  They  penetrated 
and  illumined  regions  of  darkness  untouched  and 
unfelt  by  the  amendments  and  statutes  of  liberty,  in 


CLUB  MOVEMENT  AMONG  NEGRO  WOMEN.     203 

order  to  share  in  the  work    of  redemption  in  which 
colored  women  were  distinguishing  themselves. 

The  progress  of  colored  women  as  teachers  and 
leaders  in  education  may  be  fairly  judged  from  the 
fact  that  about  twenty- five  thousand  colored  women 
are  now  engaged  as  teachers  in  the  colored  schools  and 
colleges  of  the  country.  A  large  number  of  this  genera- 
tion of  teachers  have  been  trained  in  some  of  the 
best  universities  of  the  country  and  they  teach  every- 
thing required  from  the  kindergarten  to  the  university. 

The  Capacity  of  the  Negro. — The  progress  of 
colored  women  as  teachers  and  students,  ought  to  be 
a  conclusive  answer  to  those  who  question  the  capacity 
of  the  Negro  race  for  the  highest  development.  It 
ought  not  to  be  surprising  that  the  women  who  have 
so  diligently  prepared  themselves  by  education  and 
service  should  now  be  able  to  take  hold  of  the  great 
social  problems  which  require  for  their  solution  the 
intelligence,  courage,  race  pride  and  the  force  of 
initiative  such  as  have  characterized  the  work  of 
colored  women  as  the  educators  of  a  race. 

Organization. — The  organization  of  the  colored 
women  of  the  country  into  clubs,  leagues  and  associa- 
tions for  the  moral  uplift  of  their  race  is  a  dis- 
tinctive forward  movement,  and  it  is  wonderfully 
significant  of  the  long  distance  traveled  in  thirty 
years.  The  Negro  woman's  club  of  to-day  represents 
the  new  Negro  with  new  powers  of  self-help,  with 
new  capacities,  and  with  an  intelligent  insight 
into  her  own  condition.  It  represents  new  interests, 
new  anxieties  and  new  hopes.  It  means  becter 
schools,  better  homes  and  better  family  alignments, 
better  opportunities  for  young  colored  men  and 
women  to  earn  a  living,  and  purer  social  relationships. 


204  PROGRESS    OF    A    RACE. 

These  are  some  of  the  things  that  have  been  made  im- 
portant and  interesting  to  all  of  the  people  by  the 
women's  clubs. 

The  Call  for  Club  Work.— The  causes  for  this  new 
movement  among  colored  women  are  not  difficult  to 
find.  As  before  stated,  the  gradual  decadence  of  the 
Negro  as  a  political  power  in  the  South,  has  tended 
to  force  the  race  back  upon  itself,  and  to  give  to  it  the 
services  of  men  whose  superior  intelligence  found  no 
outlet  in  politics.  The  studies  and  efforts  of  such 
men  as  DuBois,  Washington  and  other  Negro  philoso- 
phers made  the  subjects  in  which  women  are  chiefly 
concerned  of  commanding  interest.  Heretofore  it 
seemed  to  be  taken  for  granted  that  tke  schoolhouse 
would  take  care  of  itself,  that  the  morals  of  the 
people,  and  home  sanctities  would  grow  out  of  the 
influence  of  the  church  alone,  but  women  have  dis- 
covered that  all  the  agencies  of  civilization  need  to 
be  safe-guarded  and  supplemented  by  the  organized 
intelligence  of  the  people. 

Women  Deserve  the  Praise. — While  the  colored  men 
of  the  last  decade  have  done  much  to  give  the  race  a 
consciousness  of  its  own  shortcomings,  the  colored 
women's  club  as  a  reformatory  movement  is  wholly 
the  creation  of  women.  To  them  must  be  accredited 
the  moral  sense  and  the  mental  insight  that  enabled 
them  to  discover  their  own  social  disorders  and  imper- 
fections and  to  suggest  their  remedies.  In  other 
words,  they  did  not  need  to  be  told  what  was  to  be  done 
or  what  to  do.  It  was  not  the  preacher  who  created 
in  them  an  anxiety  for  a  better  home  environment  for 
themselves  and  their  children.  The  conscience-call 
for  kindergartens,  day  nurseries,  reading  rooms,  etc., 
was  not  man-made.  The  white  women's  clubs,  as  large, 


CLUB    MOVEMENT    AMONG    NEGRO    WOMEN.  205 

numerous  and  generous  as  they  sometimes  are,  sent  no 
missionaries  among  their  darker  sisters  to  show  them 
the  way  out  of  social  darkness  and  despair.  On  the 
contrary  the  colored  women  began  their  club  work  in 
the  same  independent  spirit  with  which  they  have 
taught  themselves,  and  then  began  to  teach  others,  even 
in  the  dark  days  before  they  became  free.  Without 
demonstration,  or  flourish  of  trumpets,  the  colored 
women  began  a  more  or  less  systematic  study  of  social 
conditions. 

First  Clubs  Organized.— Many  clubs  were  organized 
for  this  purpose  as  early  as  in  1890.  Between  1890 
and  1895  many  clubs  were  organized  in  the  principal 
cities  of  the  country,  where  the  Negro  population  was 
large  enough.  Among  the  best  known  clubs  of  this 
period  were  the  Ellen  Watkins  Harper  Club  of  Jeffer- 
son City,  Missouri,  The  Loyal  Union  of  Brooklyn,  The 
Ida  B.  Wells  Club  of  Chicago,  The  Phyllis  Wheatley 
Club  of  New  Orleans,  The  Sojourner  Truth  of  Provi- 
dence, Rhode  Island,  The  Woman's  Era  Club  of  Boston, 
and  The  Woman's  League  of  Washington,  D.  C. 

An  examination  of  the  constitution  and  by-laws  of 
these  first  organizations  among  colored  women,  shows 
a  degree  of  earnestness  and  freedom  from  affectation 
and  pretense  that  is  very  refreshing,  and  speaks  much 
for  the  strong  character  of  the  workers.  Temperance, 
mothers'  meetings,  sewing  schools,  rescue  agencies, 
night  schools,  home  sanitation  and  lectures  on  all  sub- 
jects of  social  interest  were  some  of  the  many  things 
attempted  and  carried  on  by  these  clubs.  These  clubs 
made  themselves  felt  for  good  in  their  respective  com- 
munities. In  some  places  these  groups  of  women  con- 
stituted the  only  organized  force  among  the  colored 
people  for  any  purpose,  and  they  are  recognized  as 


206  PROGRESS    OF    A    RACE. 

such  in  every  instance  where  the  organized  voice  of 
the  colored  people  is  needed. 

The  Best  Women  Interested. — The  clubs  during 
this  period  were  in  no  way  affiliated.  They  were 
purely  a  creation  for  local  needs  and  had  no  other  pur- 
pose than  the  betterment  of  their  own  communities. 
As  a  general  rule  those  who,  in  the  proper  sense,  may 
be  called  the  best  women  in  the  communities  where 
these  clubs  were  organized,  became  interested  and 
joined  in  the  work  of  helpfulness.  It  is  perhaps  the 
first  instance  of  the  women  of  culture,  social  standing 
and  independence  availing  themselves  of  the  oppor- 
tunity to  make  use  of  their  superior  training. 

The  charge  that  the  colored  women  of  education 
and  refinement  had  no  sympathetic  interest  in  their 
own  race  met  a  complete  refutation  in  the  zealous  and 
unselfish  service  rendered  the  club  movement  by 
these  very  women. 

Clubs  Deserving  Special  Mention. — Among  the 
earlier  clubs,  special  mention  should  be  made  of  The 
Phyllis  Wheatley  Club  of  New  Orleans,  Louisiana, 
The  Woman's  League  of  Washington,  D.  C.,  and  The 
Woman's  Era  Club  of  Boston,  Massachusetts.  They 
have  furnished  the  models  for  all  the  successful  clubs 
that  have  followed  them. 

The  Phyllis  Wheatley  Club  is  one  of  the  best 
equipped  clubs  in  the  South,  both  as  to  the  quality  of 
its  membership  and  the  work  accomplished.  It  has 
fostered  and  developed  more  interests  that  have 
affected  helpfully  the  social  life  of  the  people,  than 
any  other  club  in  the  South.  Among  other  suc- 
cessful undertakings,  it  has  founded  and  sustained  a 
training  class  for  colored  nurses,  and  largely  assisted 
in  the  support  of  a  colored  orphans'  home. 


CLUB    MOVEMENT    AMONG    NEGRO    WOMEN.  207 

Its  president,  Mrs.  Sylvanie  Williams,  is  a  fine  ex- 
ample of  the  resourcefulness  and  noble  influence  that 
a  cultivated  woman  can  and  will  give  to  the  uplift  of 
her  race. 

The  Woman's  League,  Washington,  D.  0.,— The 
Woman's  League  of  Washington,  D.  C.,  has  per- 
haps the  largest  membership  of  any  club  in  the  coun- 
try. It  has  the  advantage  of  being  largely  composed 
of  the  teachers  of  the  district,  and  there  is  no  lack  of 
the  right  sort  of  intelligence  and  interest  to  make  it 
one  of  the  best  agencies  of  social  improvement  to  be 
found  at  the  capital. 

Mrs.  Helen  Cook  has  been  the  president  since  its 
organization,  and  she  has  been  assisted  by  such  well- 
known  women  as  Mrs.  Anna  J.  Cooper,  Mrs.  J.  H. 
Smythe,  Miss  Ella  D.  Barrier,  the  efficient  secretary, 
Mrs.  Ida  Bailey,  Mrs.  John  R.  Frances,  Mrs.  C.  F. 
Grimke,  Miss  Victoria  Thompkins,  and  many  other 
ladies  equally  well  known.  ' 

The  club  has  been  in  existence  about  twelve  years, 
and  during  that  time  it  has  regularly  conducted 
and  carried  on  kindergartens,  sewing  schools,  day 
nurseries,  night  schools,  and  penny  saving  banks  right 
among  the  people  who  need  this  kind  of  service,  as 
well  as  the  example  and  sympathy  of  superior  women. 

As  a  woman  of  culture,  refinement  and  financial 
independence,  Mrs.  John  F.  Cook  has  been,  and  is,  a 
noted  example  and  inspiration  to  women  of  her  own 
social  standing,  in  the  serious  work  of  social  reform. 

The  Woman's  Era  Club  of  Boston,  Massachusetts. — 
The  Woman's  Era  Club  of  Boston,  Massachusetts,  is 
probably  the  best  known  club  in  the  country.  It  was 
organized  in  February,  1893,  an^  nas  about  200  mem- 
bers. It  has  a  larger  membership  than  any  other  club 


§08  PROGRESS   OF    A 

in  the  country,  except  perhaps  the  League  of  Washing- 
ton. The  personelle  of  its  members  represents  a  larger 
number  of  educated  and  refined  women  than  prob- 
ably any  other  club  that  could  be  mentioned. 

The  president,  Mrs.  Josephine  St.  Pierre  Ruffin,  is  of 
an  unusually  strong  and  interesting  personality.  She 
is  also  one  of  the  best  known  club  women  in  New 
England  and  is  an  influencial  member  of  many  of  the 
leading  clubs  in  Massachusetts.  Mrs.  Ruffin's  mental 
training,  leisure  and  aggressive  nature  amply  qualify 
her  for  leadership.  She  has  probably  had  more  news- 
paper notice  for  her  bold  stand  for  the  equal  rights  of 
women  than  any  other  colored  woman  in  the  country. 
The  Era  Club  is  the  most  influential  organization  of 
colored  people  in  New  England.  It  embraces  in  its 
purposes  and  plans  many  of  the  best  features  of  club 
work. 

The  most  distinctive  work  of  the  new  club  was 
the  publication  for  several  years  of  a  monthly  journal 
called  The  New  Era.  This  paper  is  the  first  publica- 
tion ever  successfully  managed  and  published  solely 
by  colored  women.  Among  its  contributors  were 
some  of  the  brightest  colored  women  of  America.  It 
had  a  wide  circulation  and  did  much  to  arouse  the  col- 
ored women  of  the  country  to  the  necessity  of  united 
effort. 

The  Development  of  the  Club  Movement, — The  next 
step  in  the  development  of  the  club  movement  among 
colored  women  was  the  formation  of  a  National  Associa- 
tion of  colored  women's  clubs. 

The  Woman's  League  of  Washington  and  the 
Woman's  Era  Club  of  Boston  began  the  agitation  for 
the  affiliation  of  the  clubs  some  time  before  its  actual 
accomplishment,  for  which  great  credit  is  due  them. 


1.  Honorary  President  of  National  Association. 

2.  Physical  Culture  Teacher  in  Washington. 

3.  President  of  St.  Louis  Woman  s  Club,  and  Kindergartner. 

4.  Prominent  Club  Woman  and  Educator.  • 

5  President  of  a  Practical  New  Orleans  Woman's  CI  ib 


1.  Principal  of  Normal   Dept.   Florida   Baptist  College,  Jacksonville. 

2.  Leadei  of  Her  Race,  Jacksonville,  Fla. 

3.  Graduate  Nurse,  Provident  Hospital,  Chicago. 

4.  Public  Stenographer,  Chicago 

5.  A  Successful  Business  Woman.  St   Louis. 


CLUB  MOVEMENT  AMONG  NEGRO  WOMEN.     20& 

In  the  spring  of  1895,  the  colored  women  of  the 
country  became  justly  excited  over  a  scurrilous  article 
appearing  in  a  Missouri  paper  in  which  the  colored 
women  of  the  country  were  written  down  in  the  most 
libelous  manner.  The  widespread  feeling  aroused 
by  this  cowardly  attack  resulted  in  the  call  for  a 
National  Conference  issued  by  the  Woman's  Era  Club 
of  Boston,  and  was  composed  of  delegates  from  all 
regularly  organized  colored  women's  clubs  in  the 
country.  The  Conference  was  held  in  Berkeley  Hall, 
Boston,  Massachusetts,  from  the  29th  to  the  3ist 
of  July  inclusive.  About  one  hundred  women  repre- 
senting twenty-five  clubs  from  ten  different  states  com- 
posed the  Conference. 

Among  them  were  such  women  as  Mrs.  J.  St.  P. 
Ruffin,  Miss  Maria  Baldwin,  Mrs.  Ridley,  Mrs.  Dick- 
erson,  Miss  Imogen  Howard,  Mrs.  Helen  Cook  of 
Washington,  Mrs.  Anna  G.  Cooper  and  Miss  Ella  D. 
Barrier  who  responded  to  the  call. 

The  Conference  attracted  wide  attention  because 
it  was  the  first  of  the  kind  ever  held  in  this  country, 
and  because  it  was  highly  representative  of  the  best 
intelligence  of  the  women  of  the  colored  race. 

The  important  work  of  the  Conference  was  the 
organization  of  the  National  Association  of  colored 
women.  The  women  quickly  found  that  their  power 
for  good  would  be  greatly  increased  by  uniting  their 
forces  The  first  officers  of  the  new  Association, 
elected  without  contest  or  confusion,  were  as  follows: 
President,  Mrs.  Booker  T.  Washington,  Tuskegee, 
Alabama;  Secretary,  Mrs.  U.  A.  Ridley,  Brooklyn, 
Massachusetts;  Treasurer,  Mrs.  Libbie  C.  Anthony, 
Jefferson  City,  Missouri ;  Chairman  Executive  Commit- 
tee, Mrs.  Victoria  E.  Matthews. 

14  Progress 


210  PROGRESS  OF    A   RACE. 

The  organization  of  the  National  Association  in- 
spired new  life  in  club  work  throughout  the  country. 
It  gave  an  importance  to  the  club  work  of  colored 
women,  and  brought  into  public  discussion  social  ques- 
tions concerning  the  development  of  the  race  which 
had  heretofore  been  neglected. 

Growth  of  the  Association.— The  power  of  the 
Association  has  grown  from  a  few  scattered  and  un- 
affiliated  clubs  throughout  the  country  to  an  associa- 
tion of  400  clubs  with  a  membership  of  from  50  to  200 
each.  It  is  estimated  that  from  150,000  to  200,000 
women  are  being  influenced  for  good  more  or  less 
through  the  activity  of  these  clubs,  and  hundreds  of 
poor  Negro  homes  have  felt  the  cleansing  and  refining 
touch  of  the  home  department  of  these  various  clubs. 

The  National  Association  of  colored  clubs  has  held 
four  large  National  Conventions  as  follows: — Washing- 
ton, D.  C.,  in  1896;  Nashville,  Tennessee,  in  189 7; 
Chicago,  Illinois,  in  1899,  and  Buffalo  in  1901. 

The  following  women  have  served  as  presidents  of 
the  National  Association :  Mrs.  Booker  T.  Washington, 
Mrs.  Mary  Church  Terrell  for  three  terms  and  Mrs. 
Silome  Yates. 

Club  List  of  the  National  Association  of  Colored 
Women. 

ALABAMA. 

Eufala  Woman's  Club. 

Greensboro  Woman's  Mutual  Benefit  Club. 

Montgomery  Sojourner  Truth  Club. 

Mt.  Meigs  Woman's  Club. 

Tuskegee  Woman's  Club. 

Tuskegee-Notasulga  Woman's  Club. 

Birmingham  Sojourner  Truth  Club. 


CLUB   MOVEMENT    AMONG    NEGRO    WOMEN.  211 

Ladies'  Auxiliary,  Montgomery. 
Ten  Times  One,  Montgomery. 

ARKANSAS. 

Little  Rock  Branch  of  National  Association. 
Woman's  Club,  Little  Rock. 

CALIFORNIA. 

Los  Angeles  Woman's  Club. 

NORTH     CAROLINA. 

Biddle  University  Club 

SOUTH     CAROLINA. 

Charleston  Woman's  League. 
Charleston  W.  C.  T.  U. 

COLORADO. 

The  Woman's  League,  Denver. 

CONNECTICUT. 

Rose  of  New  England  League,  Norwich. 

FLORIDA. 

Jacksonville  Woman's  Christian  Industrial  and  Protec- 
tive Union. 

The  Phyllis  Wheatley  Chautauqua  Circle,  Jacksonville. 
The  Afro-American  Woman's  League,   Jacksonville. 

GEORGIA. 

Atlanta's  Woman's  Club. 
Harriet  Beecher  Stowe,  Macon. 
Columbus,  Douglass  Reading  Circle. 
Augusta,  Woman's  Protective  Club. 
Woman's  Club  of  Athens. 

INDIANA. 

The  Booker  T.  Washington  Club,  Logansport. 


212  PROGRESS   OF    A    RACE. 

ILLINOIS. 

Chicago  Ida  B.  Wells  Club. 

Chicago  Phyllis  Wheatley  Club. 

Chicago  Woman's  Civic  League. 

Chicago  Woman's  Conference. 

Chicago  Wayman  Circle. 

Chicago  Progressive  Circle  of  King's  Daughters. 

Chicago  Hyde  Park  Woman's  Club. 

Chicago  North  Side  Woman's  Club. 

Peoria  Woman"' s  Club. 

KANSAS. 

Sierra  Leone  Club. 
Woman's  Club,  Paola. 

KENTUCKY. 

Louisville  Woman's  Improvement  Club. 
Echstein  Daisy  Club,  Cane  Springs. 

LOUISIANA. 
Phyllis  Wheatley  Club,  New  Orleans. 

MASSACHUSETTS. 

Woman's  Era  Club,  Boston. 

Lend-a-Hand  Club,   Boston. 

Female  Benevolent  Firm,  Boston. 

E.  M.  Thomas  League. 

Cavalry  Circle,  Boston. 

Woman's  Loyal  Union,  New  Bedford. 

Woman's  Protective  League,  Salem. 

Golden  Rule  Club,  Cambridge. 

B.  T.  Tanner  Club,   Chelsea. 

St.  Pierre  Ruffin  Club,  New  Bedford. 

MINNESOTA. 

Ada  Sweet  Pioneer  Club,  Minneapolis. 


CLU1    MOVEMENT    AMONG    NEGRO    WOMBN. 

Twin  City  Woman's  Era  Club,  Minneapolis  and  St. 

Paul. 
Woman's   Loyal  Union   and   John  Brown   Industrial 

Club. 

MISSOURI. 

Jefferson  City  Woman's  Club. 

F.  E.  W.  Harper  League,  St.   Louis. 

F.  E.  W.  H.  League,  St.  Joseph. 

St.  Louis  Suffrage  Club. 

St.  Louis  Phyllis  Wheatley  Club. 

St.  Louis  Woman's  Club. 

St.  Louis  Married  Ladies'  Thimble  Club. 

Kansas  City  Club. 

Self-Improvement  Club,  St.  Louis. 

MICHIGAN. 

The  Detroit  Willing  Workers. 
Detroit  Phyllis  Wheatley  Club. 
The  Booker  T.  Washington  Club,  Lima. 
Gramd  Rapids  Married  Ladies'  igth  Century  Club. 
The  Sojourner  Truth  Improvement  Club,  Battle  Creek. 
The  Woman's  Federation  Club,  Ann  Arbor. 

NEW  YORK. 

New  York  and  Brooklyn,  Woman's  Loyal  Union 

Buffalo  Woman's  Club. 

Harlem  Woman's  Sympathetic  Union. 

Rochester  Woman's  Club. 

N.  Y.  aad  Brooklyn  W.  A.  A.  U. 

NEBRASKA. 

Omaha  Woaaan's  Club. 
Woman's  Improvement  Club. 

PENNSYLVANIA. 

Pittsburgh  and  Allegheny  F,  E.  W.  H.  League. 


214  PROGRESS    OF    A    RACK. 

Woman's  Loyal  Union,  Pittsburg. 

Washington  Young  Woman's  Twentieth  Century  Club. 

OHIO. 
Toledo  Woman's  Club.  A.  M.  E.,  Columbus. 

RHODE  ISLAND. 

Newport  Woman's  League. 
Providence  Working  Woman's  League. 
Lucy  Thurman  W.  C.  T.  U.,  St.  Paul. 
The  Dunbar  Reading  Circle,  Cleveland. 

TENNESSEE. 

Knoxville,  Woman's  Mutual  Improvement  Club. 
Memphis,  Coterie  Migratory  Assembly. 
Memphis,  Hook's  School  Association. 
Phyllis  Wheatley,  Nashville. 
Jackson  Woman's  Club. 
Jackson  W.  C.  T.  U. 

TEXAS. 

Fort  Worth  Phyllis  Wheatley  Club. 

VIRGINIA. 

Woman's  League  of  Roanoke. 
Richmond  Woman's  League. 
Cappahoosic  Gloucester  A  and  L  School. 
Urbana  Club. 

Lynchburg  Woman's  League. 
Lexington  Woman's  Club. 

DISTRICT  OF  COLUMBIA. 

Washington,  D.  C.,  Ladies'  Auxiliary  Committee. 
Washington,  D.  C.,  Lucy  Thurman  W.  C.  T.  U. 
Woman's  Protective  Union,  Washington,  D.  C. 

WEST  VIRGINIA. 

Wheeling  Woman's  Fortnightly  Club, 


CLUB    MOVEMENT    AMONG    NEGRO    WOMEN.  215 

The  Influence  of  the  National  Conventions.— The 

four  national  gatherings  of  the  representatives  of 
colored  women's  clubs  have  excited  more  public  inter- 
est and  newspaper  comments  and  discussions  of  the 
social  status  of  the  colored  race  in  this  country  than 
any  conventions  held  by  the  colored  people  since  the 
close  of  the  war.  The  intelligent  reports  of  committees 
on  reformatory  work  attempted  and  accomplished  have 
helped  to  bring  into  public  notice  the  real  needs  of 
enlightenment  among  the  masses  of  the  race  and  have 
developed  altogether  new  agencies  for  carrying  out 
these  reforms. 

To  the  people  who  have  known  the  Negro  only  as  a 
menial  it  has  been  a  delightful  surprise  to  witness  so 
many  women  accomplished  and  graceful  in  all  the 
manners,  capabilities  and  charms  of  personality  that 
characterize  the  best  women  of  the  more  favored  races. 
The  public  has  not  yet  ceased  to  wonder  at  these  bien- 
nial exhibitions  of  the  progress  made  by  colored 
women  throughout  the  country,  and  the  opportunities 
offered  to  a  large  number  of  superior  women  who  have 
not  yet  attached  themselves  to  the  work  of  the  National 
Association.  The  only  danger  to  the  future  usefulness 
of  the  National  Association  are  the  weaknesses  that 
are  common  to  most  women's  organizations,  and 
the  tendency  to  imitate  men  in  their  political  organ- 
izations where  strife  for  place  and  honor  too  often 
obscure  the  noble  purposes  and  urgent  needs  of  the 
work  in  hand,  and  also  the  purely  womanly  pecu- 
liarities of  emphasizing  the  petty  things  that  make 
for  envy,  jealousy  and  personal  vanities.  Unless  the 
association  can  be  sufficiently  animated  and  inspired 
by  the  largeness  of  its  opportunity  and  the  dignity  of 
its  calling  to  saye  itself  from  the  tendencies  above 


216  PROGRESS   OF    A    RACE. 

enumerated,  it  will  be  in  danger  of  losing  the  co-opera- 
tion of  the  women  who  are  capable  of  everything 
except  bickerings  and  small  personalities. 

It  must  not  be  lost  sight  of  that  this  great  Asso- 
ciation has  helped  to  nationalize  those  vital  interests 
that  touch  the  whole  social  fabric  of  the  colored  race. 
Whether  the  National  Association  shall  live  or  not,  to 
carry  out  its  pledges  to  itself  and  to  the  people,  the 
interest  that  it  has  awakened  in  the  great  problems 
which  concern  the  social  uplift  of  the  race  must  re- 
main a  part  of  the  anxieties  and  responsibilities  of  the 
men  and  women  who  are  striving  in  church  and  school 
and  other  agencies  of  reform  to  give  a  standard  of 
character  to  the  Negro  race. 

The  Attitude  of  White  Women's  Clubs.— The 
attitude  of  the  white  women's  clubs  toward  the  col- 
ored woman,  as  a  clubwoman,  has  furnished  one  of  the 
most  interesting  and  stirring  features  in  the  history 
of  the  club  movement.  While  many  colored  women 
in  the  Northern  states  have  been  welcomed  as  mem- 
bers to  white  women's  clubs  as  individuals,  the  ques- 
tion of  their  admission  in  some  instances  has  given  rise 
to  some  of  the  fiercest  controversies  over  the  colored 
question  that  have  been  witnessed  in  this  country  for 
many  years. 

Two  Incidents  Noted.— There  have  been  two  inci- 
dents in  this  connection  that  are  illustrative  of  the 
extent  of  the  interest  aroused. 

First. — The  admission  of  a  colored  woman  into  the 
Chicago  Woman's  Club. 

Second. — The  refusal  of  the  National -Federation -of 
Women's  Clubs  at  its  biennial  meeting  in  Milwaukee  in 
1900,  to  receive  the  credentials  of  Mrs.  Josephine  St.  P 
Ruffin  representing  the  Woman's  Era  Club  of  Bostoa, 


CLUB  MOVEMENT  AMONG  NEGRO  WOMEN.      217 

The  first  incident  gave  rise  to  a  color  controversy 
that  lasted  fourteen  months.  In  the  fall  of  1894  Mrs. 
Ellen  Henroten,  late  president  of  the  National  Fed- 
eration, Mrs.  Celia  Parker  Wooley,  author  and  lecturer, 
and  Mrs.  Grace  Bagley,  a  prominent  club  woman  of 
Chicago,  presented  the  name  of  Mrs.  Fannie  Barrier 
Williams  of  Chicago,  with  their  endorsement,  for  mem- 
bership in  the  Chicago  Woman's  Club.  The  name 
was  presented  in  the  same  way  that  other  women's 
names  are  presented  and  with  no  thought  of  exciting 
opposition  or  discussion. 

The  Chicago  Woman's  Club  has  a  membership  of 
about  800  women.  In  its  personality  it  fairly  repre- 
sents the  wealth  and  culture  of  the  women  of  Chicago. 
Every  applicant  for  membership  is  rigidly  scrutinized 
and  investigated  to  determine  her  mental  and  moral 
fitness  for  this  exclusive  fellowship.  The  club  motto 
is  Humam  Nihil  Alienum  Puto  ("Nothing  Human  is 
Foreign  to  Me").  The  loyalty  of  the  members  of  the 
Chicago  Woman's  Club  to  this  motto  had  never  been 
questioned  before.  When,  however,  this  great  club 
»  came  to  know  the  color  of  this  new  applicant,  there 
was  a  startling  cry  that  seemed  to  have  no  bounds. 
Scarcely  has  a  question  of  such  small  significance  in 
itself  assumed  such  a  national  range  of  interest  and 
controversy.  There  was  scarcely  a  publication  of  any 
kind  in  the  country  that  did  not  enter  into  a  discussion 
of  the  rights  and  wrongs,  the  justice  and  the  injustice, 
and  the  dangers  real  and  imaginary  over  the  simple 
question  of  admission  to  the  club  of  a  person  who 
admittedly  came  within  the  meaning  of  the  club's 
motto.  The  Women's  Clubs  everywhere  took  up  the 
matter  and  discussed  the  question,  had  lectures  upon 
it,  wrote  essays  on  it,  and  some  of  them  went  so  far, 


218  PROGRESS    OF    A    RACE. 

by  way  of  testing  their  own  feelings,  as  to  vote  upon 
the  question  of  admitting  the  Chicago  colored  appli- 
cant as  an  honorary  member.  The  whole  anti-slavery 
question  was  fought  over  again  in  the  same  spirit  and 
with  the  same  arguments.  This  simple  question  was 
the  old  bugbear  of  social  equality. 

After  fourteen  months'  agitation  and  heart-aches 
and  hysteria,  the  common  sense  of  the  members  tri- 
umphed over  their  prejudices. 

The  colored  applicant  stood  the  test  of  the  club's  law 
of  eligibility,  which  was  declared  to  be  "Character, 
intelligence  and  the  reciprocal  advantages  to  the  club 
and  the  individual,  without  regard  to  race,  color, 
religion  or  politics. "  The  most  gratifying  thing  about 
this  long-drawn-out  and  exciting  contest  is  that  fully 
nine-tenths  of  the  most  influential  publications  in  the 
United  States,  without  regard  to  politics,  were  in 
favor  of  the  colored  applicant,  and  insisted  upon  high 
grounds  in  settling  all  similar  controversies.  Certain 
it  is  that  no  more  interesting  contribution  to  the 
literature  of  the  color  question  in  this  country  can 
be  found  than  that  growing  out  of  this  discussion. 

It  is  also  gratifying  to  note  that  none  of  the  fears 
insisted  upon  by  those  opposed  to  the  admission  of 
the  colored  applicant  have  been  realized,  but  on  the 
contrary  the  club  has  steadily  grown  in  interest,  mem- 
bership and  influence. 

The  Ruffin  Incident.— The  "Ruffin  incident,"  as 
it  has  been  aptly  called,  furnishes  the  second  national 
controversy  over  the  color  question  growing  out  of 
the  attitude  of  the  white  women's  club  toward  the 
colored  woman  as  a  club  member.  The  meaning  of 
the  "Ruffin  incident"  is  the  refusal  of  the  National 
Federation  of  Women's  Clubs  at  their  biennial  meet- 


CLUB  MOVEMENT  AMONG  NEGRO  WOMEN.      219 

ing  at  Milwaukee,  Wisconsin,  to  admit  to  its  mem- 
bership any  club  composed  exclusively  of  colored 
women.  This  as  an  issue  was  brought  out  by  Mrs. 
Ruffin's  loyalty  to  the  Woman's  Era  Club,  of  which 
she  was  president  and  from  which  she  was  sent  with 
proper  credentials  as  a  delegate. 

There  is  such  a  widespread  misapprehension  of  the 
facts,  and  so  little  has  been  published  that  can  be 
relied  upon  as  authentic,  that  the  following  carefully 
prepared  official  statement  of  the  entire  controversy 
has  been  secured  from  the  Woman's  Era  Club  to  be 
used  in  this  chapter.  We  think  it  will  be  of  historical 
value  in  the  future  discussion  of  this  question. 

Official  Statement  from  .the  Woman's  Era  Club 
of  Boston,  Massachusetts. —The  following  is  a  con- 
densed statement  of  the  Woman  s  Era  Club  (colored) 
of  Boston,  concerning  the  "Ruffin  incident,"  referred 
to  above:  The  Milwaukee  episode  has  made  the  Era 
Club  of  Boston  a  target  of  criticism,  friendly  and 
unfriendly,  of  2,500  women's  clubs,  and  through  them 
of  150,000  women.  For  this  reason  the  club  feels 
itself  justified  in  making  this  general  statement: 

"It  is  urged  by  critics: 

"First. — The  Massachusetts  and  the  Woman's  Era 
Club  are  to  be  condemned  for  attempting  to  force  the 
color  question  upon  the  Biennial,  when  least  prepared 
for  it. 

"Second.— That  the  action  of  the  President  of  the 
Federation,  Mrs.  Lowe,  in  admitting  the  Woman's 
Era  Club  was  not  ratified  by  the  Board,  therefore 
the  Board's  action  in  excluding  Mrs.  Rufnn  was  per- 
fectly legal. 

"Third.— That  Mrs.  Rtiffin  should  have  accepted  a 
compromise — should  have  been  willing  to  forego  the 


220  PROGRESS   OF    A    RACE. 

privilege  of  representing  the  club  of  which  she  was 
president — and  enter  the  convention  as  a  delegate  from 
Massachusetts,  which  privilege  was  offered  her. 

'"'Fourth. — That  colored  women  should  confine  them- 
selves to  their  clubs  and  the  large  field  of  work  open 
to  them  there. 

We  think  it  best  to  answer  these  points  by  a  brief 
statement  of  the  career  of  our  club  and  the  events 
immediately  leading  to  its  entrance  into  the  general 
federation.  *  *  *  *  *  jn  allying  itself  with  the 
general  movement  for  women,  the  club  has  sought 
to  elevate  itself  by  taking  advantage  of  every  oppor- 
tunity possible  to  help  or  to  be  helped.  It  sought  to 
spread  the  club  movement  among  colored  women, 
and  to  that  end,  called  together  in  Boston  the  first 
convention  of  colored  women  ever  held  in  America, 
the  convention  which  ultimately  resulted  in  the 
National  Federation  of  Colored  Women's  Clubs.  *  * 

"We  became  a  member  of  the  Massachusetts  State 
Federation,  and  no  club  in  that  body  had  a  deeper 
pride  in  it  and  the  women  it  represents  than  we.  Our 
association  with  Massachusetts  club  women  had  been 
such  that  the  possibility  of  color  discrimination  had 
been  lost  sight  of.  Our  delegates  had  been  received 
at  meetings,  receptions,  and  conventions  with  that 
courtesy  invariably  extended  by  ladies  toward  all  with 
whom  they  come  in  contact;  nothing  less  was  ex- 
pected; certainly  nothing  less  was  received. 

"With  this  explanation  it  can  be  readily  understood 
that  when  invited  to  join  the  General  Federation,  the 
Woman's  Era  Club  accepted  the  honor  in  all  sincerity, 
as  free  from  any  thought  of  forcing  an  issue,  as  was 
doubtless  the  true-hearted  Mrs.  Anna  D.  West,  state 


CLUB  MOVEMENT  AMONG  NEGRO  WOMEN.     221 

chairman  of  correspondence  for  Massachusetts,  who 
gave  us  the  invitation. 

"The  club  went  through  the  prescribed  form  in 
making  its  application  for  membership  in  the  General 
Federation.  *****  A  reply  was  immediatly 
received  from  Mrs.  Lowe,  in  which  she  said : — 

ATLANTA,  GA.,  April  30,  1900. 

"  'Dear  Madam  President: — I  hope  you  have  by  this 
time  received  your  certificate  of  membership  in  the 
General  Federation. 

It  is  with  great  pride  that  I  write  to  extend  to  your 
club  my  congratulations,  and  at  the  same  time  to 
assure  them  of  my  desire  to  be  helpful  to  them  in 
any  way  possible.  *****  Extend  to  your  club 
greetings  from  me,  and  tell  them  to  call  upon  me  for 
all  that  they  need  and  to  send  me  all  they  can  spare 
for  encouraging  and  strengthening  the  union  of  our 
work.  Believe  me, 

Fraternally  yours, 

REBECCA  D.   LOWE.' 

"The  dues  were  forwarded,  a  receipt  and  certificate 
of  membership  were  received  and  a  ratification  of  the 
action  of  the  president,  Mrs.  Lowe,  was  received  by 
Mrs.  West,  dated  May  14,  1900,  as  follows: 

"  4It  gives  me  great  pleasure  to  inform  you  that  the 
application  of  the  Woman's  Era  Club  for  membership 
in  the  General  Federation  has  been  accepted  by  the 
Executive  Committee.  Congratulating  you  on  the 
success  of  your  work,  I  am 

Sincerely  yours, 

MINNIE  M.   KENDRICK, 
Corresponding  Secretary,  General  Federation.' 

"Acting  upon  this  situation,  the  Woman's  Era  Club 
sent  Mrs.  Ruffin  as  its  delegate  to  the  biennial  conven- 
tion held  at  Milwaukee,  Wisconsin.  She  was  also 
elected  a  delegate  by  the  Massachusetts  State  Federa- 


222  PROGRESS    OF    A    RACE. 

tion,  and  also  an  alternate  from  the  N.  E.  W.  Press 
Association. 

"Upon  arriving  at  Milwaukee,  Mrs.  Ruffin  was  forced 
into  a  humiliating  position  for  which  she  was  wholly 
unprepared.  The  Massachusetts  delegation  was  im- 
mediately notified  that  the  Board  had  met  and  would 
not  receive  an  application  for  membership  of  the 
Woman's  Era  Club.  Mrs.  Ruffin  was  informed  that 
she  could  not  enter  the  convention  representing  a 
'colored  club'  but  would  be  received  as  a  delegate  from 
a  'white  club,'  and  to  enforce  this  ruling  an  attempt 
was  made  to  snatch  from  her  breast  the  badge  which 
had  been  handed  her  on  the  passing  of  her  credentials. 

"Mrs.  Ruffin  refused  to  enter  the  convention  under 
the  conditions  offered  her,  that  is,  as  a  delegate  from 
the  Massachusetts  State  Federation,  for  which  she  was 
also  a  delegate.  *  *  * 

"The  General  Federation  of  Women's  Clubs  has  no 
color  line  in  its  constitution;  there  is  nothing  in  its 
constitution,  in  its  oft-published  statement  of  ideas 
and  aims,  in  its  supposed  advanced  position  upon 
humanitarian  questions  to  lead  any  club,  with  like 
aims  and  views,"  to  imagine  itself  ineligible  for  mem- 
bership. 

"The  Woman's  Era  Club  having  been  regularly 
admitted,  no  legal  or  moral  ground  can  possibly  be 
found  upon  which  it  could  be  ruthlessly  thrown  out  at 
the  pleasure  of  a  few  individuals. 

"As  a  member  of  the  Massachusetts  State  Federation, 
the  Woman's  Era  Club  is  still  a  member  of  the  Gen- 
eral Federation. 

"The  question  before  the  Board  and  before  the 
country  is  not  whether  colored  clubs  shall  be  admitted 
to  the  General  Federation,  but  whether  that  unwar- 


CLUB   MOVEMENT  -AMONG    NEGRO    WOMEN.  223 

rantable  action  shall 'be  sustained.  Shall  women,  ask- 
ing for  suffrage  and  a  large  participation  in  public  life, 
endorse  a  ruling  which,  as  a  specimen  of  bossism,  could 
not  be  overmatched  by  the  lowest  political  gathering 
in  the  country  ? 

****** 

"The  Woman's  Era  Club  believes  it  voices  the  senti- 
ments of  the  colored  women  of  the  country  when  it 
says  it  is  perfectly  willing  to  abide  the  decision  of  the 
majority  as  to  whether  or  not  there  shall  be  color 
discrimination  in  the  General  Federation.  We,  as 
members  of  the  club,  will,  however,  regret  to  see  the 
standard  lowered,  the  higher  ideals  repudiated,  the 
power  of  the  club  work  diminished,  by  any  declaration 
that  it  is  the  cause  of  white  women  for  which  it  stands, 
and  not  the  cause  of  womankind. 

4 'Whatever  may  be  the  result  of  the  deliberations  of 
the  General  Federation  upon  the  question  of  the  color 
line,  the  decision  should  be  explicit  and  final,  so  that 
in  the  future  there  may  be  no  possibility  of  the 
trampling  upon  the  feelings  and  aspirations  of  those 
they  consider  beneath  them. 

"The  wearers  of  the  despised  *  color/  many  millions 
strong,  cannot  annihilate  or  eliminate  themselves;  they 
are  forced,  in  the  passing  of  the  years,  to  touch  the 
larger  life  of  the  Nation  at  many  points;  but  should 
this  touch  be  deemed  undesirable  by  those  with  the 
greater  power,  it  is  only  human  that  the  weaker  side 
should  be  allowed  to  protect  itself." 

*  *  *  *  *  * 

The  whole  country  was  aroused  over  this  Milwaukee 
incident.  As  in  the  case  cited,  the  newspapers  of  the 
country  made  much  of  the  case  and  were  generally  on 
the  side  of  the  strong  and  womanly  stand  taken  by 


224  PROGRESS   OF    A    RACE. 

Mrs.  Ruffin.  The  individual  clubs  composing  the 
Federation  have  been  preparing  themselves  to  meet 
the  issue  to  at  the  next  biennial  meeting.  The  women 
composing  the  delegates  to  the  Federation  went  home 
to  their  respective  clubs  with  hearts  burdened  with 
this  vexatious  color-line  question.  In  reporting  to 
their  clubs,  there  were  embodied  recommendations  as 
to  what  should  be  the  attitude  of  their  clubs  in  the 
next  biennial.  As  a  result  many  of  the  clubs  have 
already  committed  themselves  as  a  protest  against  a 
fixed  policy  of  narrowness  and  exclusion. 

Protest  of  White  Clubs.— Among  the  first  clubs  to 
take  a  decided  stand  against  such  injustice  was  the 
Catholic  Woman's  League  of  Chicago,  which  was  the 
first  to  register  a  decided  protest  against  the  treatment 
of  the  Woman's  Era  Club.  It  is  notable  that  the 
Catholic  women's  clubs  throughout  the  country  are 
uncompromising  in  their  stand  for  an  equality  of 
opportunity. 

The  Chicago  Women's  Club  again  fought  out  this 
question  against  fierce  opposition  from  some  of  its 
members,  but  under  the  leadership  of  its  best  women, 
including  many  cultured  women  of  Southern  birth  and 
with  the  assistance  of  their  one  colored  member,  they 
once  more  triumphed  over  their  prejudices. 

These  discussions  in  many  clubs  are  creating  much 
bitterness,  and  there  are  heard  on  every  side  threats 
of  the  withdrawal  of  Southern  clubs,  and  some  North- 
ern clubs  that  sympathize  with  the  Southern  woman. 
It  is  also  curious  to  observe  how  slight  has  been  the 
advance  in  thought  and  argument  over  the  same 
arguments  of  ante-bellum  days.  The  women  are 
still  haunted  by  the  old  phantoms  "Do  you  want  your 
daughter  to  marry  a  Negro?"  "Do  you  want  social 


1.  Recording  Secretary  National  Association,  Nashville.  Tenn. 

2.  Vice  President  of  National  Association.  Washington.  D.  C. 

3.  President  of  Woman's  Club.  Athens,  Ga. 

4.  Editor  of  "Woman's  Era,"  and  a  recognized  leader 
6.  National  Organizer  of  Woman's  Club,  Chicago. 


1.  Teacher;  also  Secretary  of  Woman's  Club  in  Washington.  D  C. 

2.  Charming  Creole  Teacher  in  New  Orleans. 

3.  Director  of  Music  in  Washington  Public  Schools. 

4.  President  of  National  Association;  also  Teacher  in  Kansas  City. 

5.  Kindergarten  Teacher  in  St.  Louis. 


CLUB   MOVEMENT    AMONG    NEGRO    WOMEN.  225 

equality?"  "White  supremacy?"  These  are  all  used 
in  the  same  manner  and  with  the  same  assurances  of 
effectiveness  as  they  were  fifty  years  ago  against  the 
abolitionists.  It  is  the  same  old  fight  of  light  against 
darkness  and  progress  against  caste.  Prejudice  resists 
all  that  tends  to  soften  the  heart  and  enlighten  the  mind. 
It  defies  logic.  It  has  no  part  with  charity ;  humanity 
is  not  its  shibboleth.  It  ever  gropes  in  the  dark  and 
takes  no  pride  in  the  onward  sweep  of  the  great  forces 
of  love  and  sympathy  that  inevitably  blend  into  the 
controlling  sentiment  of  the  brotherhood  of  man. 
The  colored  women  of  the  country  have  borne  the 
burden  of  more  misery  than  has  ever  been  imposed 
upon  womankind  by  a  Christian  nation.  She  knows 
herself  and  asks  for  the  assistance  and  encouragement 
of  those  who  are  more  or  less  responsible  for  this  bur- 
den. Yet  there  are  thousands  of  free  strong  women 
in  this  country  who  would  refuse  her  appeal 

Friends  of  the  Colored  Woman.— There  is,  how- 
ever, a  brighter  side  to  this  question.  The  women 
who  are  committed  to  a  more  liberal  view  on  the  ad- 
mission of  colored  clubs  to  the  National  Federation  are 
equally  tenacious  of  their  position.  They  insist  the 
great  Federation  shall  not  commit  itself  to  any  policy 
of  exclusion,  by  which  the  deserving  woman  of  any 
race  or  color  shall  be  kept  from  its  benefits  and 
inspirations. 

There  are  thousands  of  such  women,  and  they  prefer 
that  the  Federation  should  go  to  pieces  and  cease  to  be 
rather  than  to  make  vital  in  their  work  the  prejudices 
and  principles  of  fifty  years  ago.  They  believe  in  Ter- 
rence's  motto  as  above  quoted.  They  believe  that  the 
white  women  of  the  country  should  not  be  unwilling 
to  aid  in  every  way  colored  women  who  are  struggling 

15  Progress 


226  PROGRESS    OF    A    RACE. 

to  work  out  their  own  salvation.  They  are  not  dis- 
turbed by  the  cry  of  social  equality.  They  stand  for 
progress  and  for  the  broadest  sympathy  and  for  woman- 
kind. This  seems  to  be  the  sentiment  of  the  majority 
of  the  noble  women  in  the  country,  and  they  have  no 
doubt  of  saving  the  Federation  from  committing  itself 
to  the  meaner  policy  of  exclusion. 

The  Attitude  of  Colored  Women  in  the  Contro- 
versy.— The  colored  women  have  kept  themselves 
serene  while  this  color-line  controversy  has  been  rag- 
ing around  them.  They  have  taken  a  keen  and  intelli- 
gent interest  in  all  that  has  been  said  for  and  against 
them,  but  through  it  all  they  have  lost  neither  their 
patience  nor  their  hope  in  the  ultimate  triumph  of 
right  principles. 

The  Federation  has  never  been  troubled  by  many 
applicants  from  colored  clubs.  Some  influential  col- 
ored women  even  go  so  far  as  to  believe  that  little  is 
to  be  gained  as  to  clubs,  by  exposing  themselves  to 
the  humiliation  of  being  rejected.  Then  again  there 
is  the  serious  danger  of  being  misrepresented  by  some 
ambitious  or  self-seeking  women  who  would  bring  dis- 
credit to  the  claims  of  colored  women's  clubs.  The 
case  of  the  Woman's  Era  Club  is  rather  the  exception. 
It  sought  membership  in  the  Federation  because  that 
was  the  logical  and  proper  thing  for  it  to  do.  In 
the  first  place  it  is  a  New  England  club,  composed  in 
in  the  main  of  superior  women,  who  personally,  and 
through  their  club  had  affiliated  with  the  best  white 
clubs  of  New  England.  Its  president,  Mrs.  Ruffin,  is 
an  honored  member  of  many  of  the  clubs  composing 
the  Federation.  It  was  solely  a  question  of  loyalty  to 
the  larger  interests  of  the  federated  club  work  in  the 
country  that  induced  the  Era  Club  to  lend  its  forces  to 


CLUB    MOVEMENT    AMONG    NEGRO    WOMEN.  227 

strengthening  and  supporting  the  more  inclusive  work 
of  the  Federation.  Then  again  by  its  very  aims,  pur- 
poses and  doctrines  as  declared,  the  Federation  extends 
an  invitation  to  all  qualified  organizations  of  woman- 
kind, without  hint  as  to  color,  race  or  previous  condition. 

It  is  really  surprising  that  more  of  the  colored  clubs 
have  not  sought  the  inspiration,  instruction  and  help 
that  are  so  freely  offered  by  the  Federation  to  all  clubs. 
The  fact  that  so  few  clubs  have  applied  for  admission 
shows  how  groundless  are  their  fears  that  the  Federa- 
tion is  in  danger  of  being  "Africanized." 

As  before  stated,  there  are  many  clubs  in  Northern 
communities  in  which  may  be  found  colored  members. 
Many  prominent  white  clubs  have  extended  cordial 
invitations  to  prominent  colored  women  to  address  them 
on  all  questions  of  peculiar  interest  to  women.  In 
fact,  as  between  individual  clubs,  there  has  been  an 
increase  of  cordiality  and  reciprocal  advantages  in 
this  interchange  of  service. 

Many  colored  women  have  been  trained  and  schooled 
for  leadership  among  their  own  women  by  the  expe- 
riences gained  in  well  organized  white  associations. 

How  the  Color-line  Controversy  Has  Helped  Col- 
ored Women. — It  can  be  said  that  colored  women 
have  gained  more  than  they  have  lost  by  this  wide- 
spread controversy  as  to  their  fitness  for  membership 
in  white  clubs.  Through  the  justice  of  the  press  the 
best  things  among  colored  women  and  the  best  women 
have  been  brought  into  public  notice  to  an  extent  that 
never  could  have  been  gained  by  other  means. 
Thousands  of  people  have  learned  things  that  they 
never  knew  before,  and  have  been  converted  to  a  re- 
spectful consideration  of  the  clairn^  of  colored  women 
as  to  their  standing  in  a  community. 


228  PROGRESS    OF    A    RACE. 

The  public  is  beginning  to  learn  and  to  discriminate 
that  colored  women  are  not  all  alike ;  that  there  are  so- 
cial differences,  mental  differences  and  character  differ- 
ences. The  public  has  learned  how  these  dark-skinned 
women  -have  literally  redeemed  themselves  by 
the  thousands.  For  the  first  time  they  have  learned 
of  their  versatility,  their  culture,  their  charms  and 
their  virtues.  They  have  learned  of  many  clever  writers, 
many  fluent  speakers,  many  doctors,  dentists,  some 
lawyers,  some  linguists,  some  artists,  some  business 
women  and  thousands  of  teachers.  All  these  things 
have  certainly  added  to  the  force  of  public  sentiment 
that  is  growing  stronger  day  by  day  in  favor  of  equal 
justice  to  the  colored  race. 

The  agitation  has  also  had  the  indirect  effect  of 
strengthening  and  improving  the  work  of  colored 
women  themselves.  Colored  women  have  begun  to 
learn  that  if  they  would  give  their  clubs  prestige  and 
influence  with  the  great  association  of  white  women, 
they  must  bring  to  the  front  and  encourage  their  best 
women ;  that  their  representatives  must  be  represent- 
ative of  the  best  they  have. 

It  should  also  be  noted  that  there  has  been  a  closer 
affiliation  of  white  and  colored  clubs  in  the  same  com- 
munities. White  women  of  influence  have  offered 
their  services  to  colored  women,  and  colored  women 
of  influence  have  found  their  way  to  the  lecture  plat- 
form, through  which  they  have  been  able  to  reach  the 
hearts  of  the  people. 

Recognition  of  the  Clubs. — These  women's  clubs 
are  coming  more  and  more  to  be  recognized  as  the 
center  of  the  ethical  activities  and  best  influence  of 
the  community  in  which  they  live  and  work. 

The  churches,   schools  and  other  institutions  have 


CLUB    MOVEMENT    AMONG    NEGRO    WOMEN.  229 

all  learned  to  appeal  to  these  clubs  and  to  seek  their 
co-operation  in  everything  important.  In  other  words, 
colored  women's  clubs  have  established  for  them- 
selves a  character.  They  have  gained  the  prestige  that 
comes  from  things  done,  and  done  for  the  benefit  of 
the  people.  They  are  always  accessible  to  the  young 
and  old,  to  those  who  need  them,  and  to  those  who  need 
them  not.  Their  methods  are  democratic  and  open, 
and  their  aims  and  purposes  are  always  changeable  to 
meet  the  requirements  of  their  communities.  In  some 
localities  the  crying  need  is  instruction  to  mothers  and 
sanitary  decency ;  in  others  it  is  day  nurseries  and 
kindergartens;  in  others  it  is  night  schools  for  old  and 
young,  or  employment  agencies;  protection  for  the 
young  women  of  poor  homes  and  no  homes.  In  still 
others  it  is  the  fostering  of  a  taste  for  art,  for  culture, 
for  music.  In  other  words,  the  colored  women  have, 
through  their  clubs,  established  for  themselves  a 
Woman's  Tribune,  where  every  question,  every 
interest,  every  hope  and  every  despair,  and  every 
need  can  be  brought  and  are  brought,  and  thus  made 
the  concern  and  anxiety  of  all. 

Some  Frank  Admissions. — It  is  not  claimed  in  all 
that  has  been  said  in  behalf  of  colored  women's  clubs, 
either  as  a  local  or  national  organization,  that  it  is 
entirely  free  from  an  admixture  of  some  of  the  mean- 
nesses of  our  poor  human  nature.  It  is  due  to  candor  to 
admit  that  unworthy  ambitions,  jealousies,  envies, 
spitefulness,  piques,  tale-bearing,  suspicions,  affecta- 
tions and  many  of  the  other  little  sins  peculiar  to 
human  nature  generally,  and  to  femininity  in  partic- 
ular, have  played  their  part  in  retarding  the  progress 
of  the  club  movement. 

The  important  thing,   however,  to  be  noted  is  that 


230  PROGRESS    OF    A    RACE. 

in  spite  of  hindrances,  the  women  have  advanced  their 
work;  have  sustained  the  integrity  of  the  National 
Association,  and  can  to-day  claim  to  have  the  most 
spirited,  thorough  and  well  organized  National  Asso- 
ciation among  the  colored  people. 

Club  Work  Cannot  be  Exaggerated. — Is  it  possible 
to  exaggerate  the  importance  of  this  work  of  the  col- 
ored women  in  the  country?  Scarcely  so,  when  it  is 
understood  how  great  is  the  variety  of  regenerating 
agencies  needed  to  bring  the  colored  people  up  to  the 
standard  of  qualified  citizenship  in  this  country. 

Things  to  be  Overcome. — In  America  the  Negro 
has  no  history,  no  traditions,  no  race  ideals,  no  inher- 
ited resources,  either  mental,  social  or  ethical,  and  no 
established  race  character.  The  race  is  coming  into 
its  own  power  of  self  respect,  self  help  and  self  pride 
by  the  forces  of  the  initiative,  submission  and  assimila- 
tion. The  term  Negro  excites  only  the  emotion  of 
pity  or  contempt  or  anxiety  or,  at  best,  hope. 

The  term  colored  woman  has  been  more  of  a  reproach 
in  this  country  than  anything  else. 

These  are  the  conditions  under  which  colored  women 
have  begun  their  work  of  social  reform.  Courage, 
patience,  love  and  the  best  qualities  of  the  human  heart 
are  all  needed  for  those  who  would  assume  this  work 
hopefully  and  successfully. 

Can  they  succeed  in  bringing  to  their  race  a  better 
social  status?  Can  they  alone  make  for  themselves  a 
name  that  shall  be  respected;  and  remove  from  them 
the  reproach  of  bonded  conditions?  Is  the  final  work 
of  making  the  Negro  race  worthy  of  its  place  in  this 
country  to  be  left  to  women?  Scarcely  so.  The 
chief  value  of  woman's  work  to-day  as  purposed  and 
carried  out  in  their  club  work  is  that  of  helping  to 


CLUB  MOVEMENT  AMONG  NEGRO  WOMEN.     231 

educate  the  Negro  race  as  to  its  fundamental  needs. 
The  club  has  helped  to  turn  the  searchlight  of  Negro 
intelligence  upon  the  darkness  of  Negro  ignorance,  of 
the  things  that  make  a  race  strong  and  respected. 
The  colored  race  is  learning  for  the  first  time  the 
social  value  of  the  many  smaller  activities  that 
women  everywhere  are  carrying  on  with  more  or  less 
intelligence.  The  Negro  race  is  learning  that  these 
things  which  the  women  are  doing  come  first  in  the 
lessons  of  citizenship;  that  there  will  never  be  an 
unchallenged  vote,  or  a  respected  political  power,  or 
an  unquestioned  claim  to  positions  of  influence  and 
importance,  until  the  present  social  stigma  is  removed 
from  the  home  and  the  women  of  the  race. 

Women  have  suffered  so  much  and  have  been  so 
much  humiliated  by  our  Christian  civilization  that 
their  zeal  for  vindication  of  themselves  and  their  race 
is  without  bounds  or  possible  abatement. 

Like  old  Zarca  in  George  Eliot's  "Spanish  Gypsy," 
they  are  ambitious 

"To  make  their  name,  now  but  a  badge  of  scorn, 
A  glorious  banner  floating  in  their  midst, 
Stirring  the  air  they  breathe  with  impulses 
Of  generous  pride,  exalting  fellowship, 
Until  it  soars  to  magnanimity." 

No  race  can  long  remain  mean  and  cheap  with 
aspirations  such  as  these.  Let  the  women  be  not  dis- 
couraged. They  are  helping  to  make  history  for  a 
race  that  has  no  history.  They  are  furnishing  material 
for  the  first  chapter  which  shall  some  day  recite  the 
discouragements  endured,  the  oppositions  conquered, 
and  the  triumph  of  their  faith  in  themselves. 


BOOKER  T.  WASHINGTON. 

82? 


CHAPTER  X. 

NATIONAL   NEGRO    BUSINESS    LEAGUE. 
Written  by  Booker  T.  Washington  expressly  for  this  work. 

Origin  of  League. — The  National  Negro  Business 
League  was  organized  in  Boston,  in  August  of  the 
year  1900,  and  the  first  annual  meeting  was  held  at 
that  time  and  place.  The  various  sessions  occupied 
three  days.  The  second  annual  meeting  of  the 
League  was  held  in  Chicago,  in  August  of  1901.  The 
third  annual  meeting  is  to  be  held  in  Richmond,  Vir- 
ginia, in  1902. 

During  the  last  twenty  years  my  work  in  connection 
with  the  Tuskegee  Normal  and  Industrial  Institute, 
in  Alabama,  has  obliged  me  to  travel  about  a  great 
deal  over  a  large  portion  of  the  United  States,  both 
North  and  South.  In  the  course  of  this  going  about 
I  have  been  constantly  surprised — especially  during 
the  last  few  years — to  see  how  many  colored  men  and 
women  there  are,  often  in  small  towns  and  remote 
country  districts,  who  are  engaged  in  various  lines  of 
business.  Prof.  W.  E.  B.  DuBois,  as  a  result  of  care- 
ful studies  recently  made  for  a  work  published  by  At- 
lanta University,  estimates  the  capital  invested  in 
Negro  business  enterprises  in  the  United  States  at 
nearly  nine  millions  of  dollars.  The  fact  that  79  per  cent 
of  this  is  invested  in  enterprises  of  less  than  $2,500  capi- 
tal, shows  how  widely  the  business  interests  of  the  race 
are  distributed,  and  how  many  Negro  men  and  women 
there  are  who  are  engaged  in  them.  Prof.  DuBois 
very  well  says:  "Small  as  this  total  may  seem  in  com- 
parison with  the  vast  business  investment  of  th§ 


234  PROGRESS    OF    A    RACE. 

country,  when  we  remember  that  the  freedmen  started 
with  nothing,  it  is  creditable." 

It  is  true  that  these  business  enterprises  are  some- 
times very  humble,  and  the  capital  invested  small,  but 
enough  is  being  done  to  thoroughly  indicate  the  oppor- 
tunities of  the  race  in  this  direction. 

My  observations  of  these  facts  led  me  to  be- 
lieve, in  the  year  1900,  that  a  time  had  come 
when  the  successful  colored  men  and  women  en- 
gaged in  business  in  the  country  could  be  profitably 
brought  together.  After  consultation  with  a  con- 
siderable number  of  representative  persons  in  vari- 
ous parts  of  the  country,  it  was  determined  to  call 
a  meeting  in  the  city  of  Boston,  that  summer,  to 
organize  a  National  Negro  Business  League.  Boston 
was  selected  as  the  place  for  the  first  meeting,  partly 
on  account  of  the  generally  cooler  climate  in  New 
England  in  the  summer,  but  quite  as  much  on  account 
of  the  historic  associations  connected  with  the  city  by 
the  members  of  the  colored  race.  It  was  believed  that 
many  of  the  delegates  who  would  attend  the  meeting — 
especially  men  from  the  far  South  who  had  never  been 
North  before — would  be  glad  to  have  this  opportunity 
to  visit  the  city  of  Wendell  Phillips,  William  Lloyd 
Garrison,  Shaw,  George  L.  Stearns  and  a  host  of  others 
who  labored  for  the  abolition  of  slavery.  This  proved 
to  be  the  case.  One  of  the  inspiring  features  of  the 
meeting  was  an  address  made  to  the  delegates  by 
William  Lloyd  Garrison,  the  son  of  the  famous  aboli- 
tionist. Another  interesting  and  dramatic  incident 
was  the  pilgrimage  which  the  delegates  made  to  the 
spot  on  State  street — marked  by  a  star  in  the  pave- 
ment— where  Crispus  Attucks,  one  of  the  first  martyrs 
of  his  race,  fell. 


NATIONAL    NEGRO    BUSINESS    LEAGUE.  235 

I  quote  one  paragraph  from  Mr.  Garrison's  address: 
4 'The  particular  word  1  wish  to  leave  with  you  is  this: 
— Aim  to  be  your  own  employers  as  soon  as  possible. 
If  you  are  farmers,  do  not  rest  until  you  control  the 
land  on  which  you  live.  He  who  is  compelled  to  till 
another's  land  is  in  a  degree  dependent  and  a  bond- 
man. If  you  are  mechanics,  seek  first  to  own  a  home 
without  mortgage,  foregoing  many  things  until  you 
are  free  of  debt.  Independence  and  debt  cannot  long 
keep  company.  In  the  South,  as  in  the  North,  posses- 
sion of  honestly  earned  property  will  surely  bring 
respect  and  increase  personal  security." 

In  addition  to  the  consideration  to  which  I  referred 
— which  may  perhaps  be  called  one  of  sentiment — it 
was  felt  that  the  delegates  to  the  convention  could  not 
but  be  benefited  from  the  opportunities  which  they 
would  have  to  observe  the  methods  of  business  of 
those  with  whom  they  would  come  in  contact.  Yankee 
shrewdness  and  ability  are  proverbial,  and  they  are 
nowhere  shown  to  better  advantage  than  in  Boston. 

Object  of  First  Meeting. — This  meeting  was  called 
with  two  objects  in  view :  first,  to  bring  together  the 
men  and  women  engaged  in  business,  in  order  that 
they  might  get  acquainted,  and  get  information  and 
inspiration  from  each  other;  and  second,  to  form  plans 
for  a  permanent  organization  which  should  hold  annual 
meetings  in  different  parts  of  the  country  and  encour- 
age the  formation  of  local  leagues  in  various  parts  of 
the  United  States,  which  should  co-operate  with  the 
national  organization.  Both  of  these  objects,  I  think, 
have  been  admirably  accomplished.  The  second  an- 
nual meeting,  held  in  Chicago,  was  even  more  largely 
attended  than  the  first,  and  with — if  possible— in- 
creased interest.  Local  leagues  have  been  formed  in 


236  PROGRESS   OF    A    RACE. 

many  states  which  are  doing  excellent  work  to  stimu- 
late a  healthy  and  intelligent  interest  in  business  in 
their  respective  localities.  Although  it  is  desirable  to 
have  such  local  societies  as  these,  membership  in  them 
is  not  necessary  in  order  to  be  a  member  of  the  national 
league.  Every  individual  engaged  in  business  is 
entitled  to  membership;  and  it  is  important,  and 
especially  to  be  desired,  that  every  line  of  business  in 
which  any  Negro  man  or  woman  is  engaged  should 
be  represented,  because  only  by  a  complete  represen- 
tation will  it  be  possible  for  the  League  to  show  the 
world  what  progress  the  race  has  made  in  business 
since  freedom  was  conferred  upon  it. 

The  fact  has  been  repeatedly  stated  since  the  League 
was  first  proposed,  and  the  proceedings  of  the  League 
have  clearly  shown  the  correctness  of  the  statement, 
that  the  organization  is  not  in  opposition  to  any  other 
in  existence,  but  is  expected  to  do  a  distinct  work  that 
no  other  can  do  as  well. 

The  meeting  in  Boston  was  held  on  August  23-25. 
Day  and  evening  sessions  were  held  the  first  two  days. 
The  delegates  assembled  in  the  large  hall  of  the 
Parker  Memorial  Building,  which  was  beautifully  and 
appropriately  decorated  for  the  occasion.  The  use  of 
the  hall  was  donated  by  one  of  the  philanthropists  of 
Boston,  and  the  decorations  were  put  up  by  a  business 
man  of  our  own  race,  Mr.  B.  F.  Washington.  On 
August  25th,  which  was  Saturday,  the  delegates  were 
given  an  excursion  on  a  steamer  down  Boston  Harbor 
by  the  city  government.  This  was  one  of  the 
pleasantest  features  of  the  week,  and  the  courtesy  was 
thoroughly  appreciated  by  the  visitors.  Not  only  in 
this  excursion,  but  in  many  other  ways,  were  the  dele- 
gates made  welcome.  Hon.  Thomas  N.  Hart,  the 


NATIONAL    NEGRO    BUSINESS    LEAGUE.  23? 

mayor  of  Boston,  himself  an  eminently  successful 
business  man,  was  present  at  one  of  the  sessions  and 
made  an  address  which  gave  the  delegates  inspiration 
and  encouragement.  The  people  of  Boston  were 
unremitting  in  their  efforts  to  help  the  visitors  in  their 
city  to  get  all  the  pleasure  and  profit  possible  out  of 
their  stay. 

The  arrangements  for  the  meeting  in  Boston  were 
made  by  a  local  committee  composed  of  Dr.  S.  B. 
Courtney ;  P.  J.  Smith ;  Louis  F.  Baldwin,  real  estate ; 
J.  R,  Hamm,  newsdealer  and  stationer;  Rev.  W.  H. 
Thomas;  Virgil  Richardson,  gents'  furnishings;  Cap- 
tain Charles  L.  Mitchell;  William  L.  Reed,  tobacco- 
nist; J.  H.  Louis,  tailor;  Gilbert  C.  Harris,  manufac- 
turer of  and  dealer  in  hair  goods. 

On  the  morning  of  August  2$d,  Dr.  S.  E.  Courtney, 
the  chairman  of  the  local  committee,  called  the  gather- 
ing to  order  and  read  the  call  for  the  meeting.  Prayer 
was  offered  by  Rev.  Dr.  Montague,  of  Boston.  Mr. 
Louis  F.  Baldwin,  a  real  estate  dealer  of  Cambridge, 
was  made  temporary  chairman,  and  Mr.  E.  E.  Cooper, 
the  publisher  of  The  Colored  American^  of  Washing- 
ton, was  made  temporary  secretary.  These  tempor- 
ary positions  were  subsequently  made  permanent, 
and  the  success  of  this  first  meeting  was  in  no  small 
measure  due  to  the  able  and  interested  manner  in 
which  these  two  gentlemen  performed  their  duties. 
An  address  of  welcome  was  made  by  Hon.  John  J.  Smith 
of  Boston.  There  were  appointed  to  serve  as  a  com- 
mittee of  resolutions,  Mr.  W.  R.  Pettiford,  a  banker, 
of  Birmingham,  Alabama;  Mr.  C.  K.  Johnson,  a  real 
estate  dealer,  of  Virginia;  Mr.  Daniel  W.  Lucas, a  bar- 
ber, of  Kansas  City,  Missouri,  and  Mr.  M.  M.  Lewey, 
an  editor  and  publisher,  of  Pensacola,  Florida.  The 


238  PROGRESS    OF    A    RACE. 

permanent  organization,  effected  later,  consisted  of 
myself  as  president;  vice-presidents,  Giles  B.  Jackson, 
Richmond,  Mrs.  A.  M.  Smith,  Chicago;  Treasurer,  Gil- 
bert C.  Harris,  Boston;  Secretary,  Edward  E.  Cooper, 
Washington;  Compiler,  Edward  A.  Johnson,  Raleigh, 
North  Carolina;  Executive  Committee,  T.  Thomas 
Fortune,  New  York ;  T.  W.  Jones,  Chicago ;  Isaiah  T. 
Montgomery,  Mound  Bayou,  Mississippi;  Booker  T. 
Washington,  Tuskegee,  Alabama;  George  C.  Jones, 
Little  Rock,  Arkansas;  W.  R.  Pettiford,  Birmingham, 
Alabama;  Gilbert  C.  Harris  and  Louis  F.  Baldwin, 
Boston. 

I  give  these  names  because  they  show  the  widely 
representative  character  of  the  League  from  the  very 
first,  both  as  regards  the  territory  from  which  the 
delegates  came,  and  also  the  industries  represented. 
This  same  representative  character  was  fully  sustained 
at  the  next  year's  meeting  at  Chicago. 

Wide  Scope  of  League. — I  do  not  think  that  I  can 
give  an  idea  of  the  wide  scope  of  the  League  and  its 
value,  in  any  better  way  than  by  reviewing  briefly  the 
first  meeting,  although  it  will  be  impossible  for  me  even 
to  mention  the  names  of  all  the  men  who  spoke.  I 
give  the  names  of  a  few,  with  their  topics,  and  quote 
a  paragraph  here  and  there  to  show  how  practical  the 
addresses  were.  As  a  general  thing  the  papers  and 
addresses  were  short,  compact,  and  right  to  the  point. 
Some  of  them  may  have  been  lacking  in  some  of  the 
graces  of  rhetoric,  but  they  told  what  the  speakers  had 
accomplished,  in  simple  words  that  all  could  under- 
stand. Particular  effort  was  made  that  the  speakers 
should  understand  that  formal,  set  addresses  were  not 
required.  What  was  wanted  was  for  a  person  who  had 
succeeded  in  some  business  to  tell  how  he  went  to  work 


NATIONAL    NEGRO    BUSINESS    LEAGUE.  239 

to  achieve  his  success — to  tell  what  obstacles  he  had 
met  and  how  he  had  overcome  them,  that  others  hear- 
ing him,  or  reading  what  he  had  said,  might  get 
information  and  encouragement  which  would  help 
them  to  go  and  do  the  same  thing. 

Mr.  Andrew  F.  Hillyer,  of  Washington,  D.  C.,  spoke 
of  "The  Colored  American  in  Business,"  giving  very 
valuable  figures  derived  from  government  records  at 
Washington.  "The  census  of  1890,"  he  said,  "showed 
20,020  Negroes  in  business.  There  are  more  colored 
barbers  than  men  engaged  in  any  other  business. 
The  next  most  influential  and  successful  class  is  that 
made  up  of  the  caterers.  The  late  James  Wormley  of 
Washington,  who  for  many  years  kept  the  famous 
Wormley  House,  died  leaving  an  estate  valued  at  $100,  - 
ooo.  The  most  remarkable  classes  of  business  except  the 
barbers  and  caterers  are  those  which  comprise  the  gro- 
cers and  small  shopkeepers.  The  butchers  form  anothe  r 
successful  class.  Almost  every  considerable  Southern 
city,  and,  indeed,  many  in  the  North  having  a  large 
colored  population,  has  one  or  more  drug  stores  kept 
by  colored  pharmacists.  Another  successful  class  is 
made  up  of  the  undertakers,  and  the  capital  invested 
here  averages  much  higher  than,  in  any  other  class  of 
business.  The  most  important  bank  is  the  True  Re- 
formers' Bank,  of  Richmond,  Virginia,  chartered  under 
the  laws  of  the  state,  owning  its  own  large  building, 
and  with  a  paid-up  capital  of  $125,000  and  a  surplus 
of  $2 5, ooo.  This  bank  has  40, ooo  depositors.  The  bank 
in  Washington  has  a  capital  of  $50,  ooo.  Another  suc- 
cessful bank  is  located  at  Birmingham,  Alabama.  There 
are  three  book  and  tract  publishing  houses,  one  of 
them  with  a  plant  valued  at  $45, ooo.  There  are  over 
200  newspapers  and  three  magazines.  One  of  these 


240  PROGRESS    OF    A    RACE. 

newspapers  has  5,000  subscribers,  and  a  plant  costing 
$10,000.  A  firm  of  truck  gardeners,  near  Charleston, 
South  Carolina,  has  been  in  business  over  thirty  years, 
has  over  500  acres  under  cultivation,  and  ships  several 
carloads  of  garden  truck  every  week  to  Northern 
markets.  The  railroad  considers  the  trade  of  this  firm 
of  enough  account  to  run  an  independent  siding  to 
their  land.  A  dealer  and  shipper  of  fish  in  Charles- 
ton has  $30,000  invested  in  the  business,  in  nets,  boats, 
ice-houses  and  other  buildings.  A  photographer  in 
St.  Paul  does  a  business  of  $30,000  a  year.  A  race- 
horse breeder  in  Knoxville,  Tennessee,  has  $50,000 
invested  in  blooded  horses.  A  pawnbroker  in  Augusta, 
Georgia,  has  $5,000  capital.'* 

Mr.  Giles  B.  Jackson,  a  real  estate  dealer  of  Rich- 
mond, Virginia,  spoke  on  "The  Negro  as  a  Real 
Estate  Dealer."  Mr.  Jackson  quoted  figures  from 
the  report  of  the  auditor  of  the  state  of  Virginia  for 
the  year  previous,  to  show  that  at  that  time  the 
Negroes  of  Virginia  owned  one  twenty-sixth  of  all  the 
land  in  the  state,  that  he  owned  one  sixteenth  of  all 
the  land  east  of  the  Blue  Ridge,  that  he  owned  one 
tenth  of  all  the  land  in  twenty-five  of  the  hundred 
counties  of  the  state,  that  he  owned  one  seventh  of 
the  land  in  Middlesex  county,  one  sixth  of  the  land  in 
Hanover  county,  and  that  in  one  county — Charles  City 
— he  owned  one  third  of  all  the  land.  He  told  how, 
in  the  year  1893,  when  the  city  of  Richmond  needed 
to  borrow  money  to  pay  school  expenses,  $100,000  was 
loaned  to  the  city  by  the  True  Reformers'  Bank,  one 
of  the  colored  banks  of  Richmond.  Mr.  J.  E.  Shepard, 
of  Enfield,  North  Carolina,  also  spoke  upon  "The 
Negro  in  Real  Estate." 

Mr.  M.  M.   Lewey,  of  Pensacola,  Florida,  spoke  of 


NATIONAL    NEGRO    BUSINESS    LEAGUE.  241 

the  Negro  business  enterprises  in  his  city.  Mr.  Lewey 
said  that  one  half  of  the  23,000  inhabitants  of  Pensa- 
cola  were  Negroes,  and  that  there  were  no  less  than, 
fifty  distinct  public  business  enterprises  owned  and 
operated  by  Negroes.  There  is  a  colored  furni- 
ture dealer  with  a  business  of  $20,000  a  year.  One 
colored  man  in  the  city  owns  real  estate  conservatively 
estimated  at  $i oo,  ooo.  There  are  particularly  success  • 
ful  grocery  firms.  One  man  only  twenty-eight  years 
of  age  who  began  life  as  cobbler  in  a  tiny  shop,  with 
no  capital,  has  built,  owns  and  rents  nine  houses. 
There  are  two  drug  stores,  a  firm  of  prosperous  con- 
tractors, and  a  restaurant  proprietor  employing  twelve 
men.  The  tax  collector  of  Pensacola  reported  400 
colored  families  owning  their  homes,  and  200  more 
buying  homes. 

Mr.  J.  W.  Pullen,  of  Enfield,  North  Carolina,  spoke 
of  the  business  enterprises  in  that  city.  Mr.  R.  B. 
Fitzgerald,  of  Durham,  North  Carolina,  made  a  very 
brief  address,  but  the  mere  presence  of  this  man  and 
his  wife  at  the  meeting  was  eloquent  with  encourage- 
ment. Mr.  and  Mrs.  Fitzgerald  began  the  manufac- 
ture of  bricks  in  North  Carolina  several  years  ago, 
with  unbounded  energy  and  determination,  but  with 
so  little  capital  that  at  first  Mrs.  Fitzgerald  was 
obliged  to  wheel  away  and  pile  up  to  dry  the  bricks 
that  her  husband  was  making.  Now  they  own  an 
establishment  that  turns  out  3,000,000  bricks  every 
year,  own  much  real  estate  in  addition,  and  Mrs. 
Fitzgerald  runs  a  drug  store. 

It  was  interesting  to  see  how  often  in  the  meeting 

such  testimony  as  that  of  Mr.  Fitzgerald  to  his  wife's 

help  was  repeated.     Over  and  over  again  a  speaker 

would  say,  "I  could  never  have  succeeded  if  it  had 

16  Progress. 


242  PROGRESS    OF    A    RACE. 

not  been  for  the  help  that  my  good  wife  gave  me." 
Many  told  how  the  wife  attended  to  the  little  busi- 
ness at  first,  after  it  was  started,  while  the  head  of  the 
family  worked  out  to  earn  money  to  increase  the 
capital. 

Dr.  A.  J.  Love,  of  Chattanooga,  Tennessee,  spoke 
for  the  colored  people  of  that  city,  reporting  one  hun- 
dred homes  owned,  and  $243,000  capital  invested. 

Dr.  A.  C.  Dungee,  of  Montgomery,  Alabama,  spoke 
as  the  representative  of  the  Citizens'  Commercial 
Union  of  that  city.  He  said  that  the  Negroes  of  that 
city  own  1,500  homes  and  have  representatives  in 
eighty-five  per  cent  of  the  business  enterprises  of  the 
city.  He  spoke  particularly  of  the  dry  goods,  furnish- 
ings and  millinery  store  of  Mr.  J.  N.  Adams.  This 
man,  who  was  a  graduate  of  Tuskegee  Institute,  began 
work  as  a  clerk  at  a  counter  in  a  white  clothing  store. 
About  eight  years  ago  he  went  into  business  for  him- 
self in  a  modest  way.  His  business  has  increased 
until  he  now  has  one  of  the  most  prosperous  stores  in 
Montgomery,  with  yearly  sales  amounting  to  nearly  if 
not  quite  $50,000.  The  millinery  department  of  this 
store  is  in  charge  of  a  young  woman  who  learned  her 
trade  in  the  millinery  class  at  Tuskegee  Institute. 
Another  man,  Henry  Lovelace,  who  not  many  years 
ago  walked  from  his  home — sixty-five  miles  away — to 
Montgomery  because  he  was  too  poor  to  come  in  any 
other  way,  now  owns  a  large  undertaking  establish- 
ment, a  coal  and  wood  yard,  and  a  truck  farm.  He 
employs  thirty-five  men,  and  his  weekly  pay  roll  is 
$400.  Of  the  twenty  colored  restaurants  in  Mont- 
gomery, the  most  successful  one  is  owned  and  man- 
aged by  a  woman. 

Mr.  R.  B.  Hudson,  of  Selma,  spoke  for  the  business 


NATIONAL    NEGRO   BUSINESS   LEAGUE.  243 

men  of  that  community.  He  was  followed  by  Dr. 
L.L.  Burwell,  a  druggist  of  the  same  city.  The  latter 
spoke  of  the  great  demand  that  there  is  all  o\;er  the 
South  for  competent  Negro  druggists.  He  said  there 
was  a  special  need  for  such  men  and  a  special  respon- 
sibility resting  upon  them,  because  the  mass  of  the 
colored  people  in  the  South  as  yet  are  wanting  in 
proper  hygienic  knowledge,  while  their  readiness  to 
use  all  kinds  of  medicines  for  any  kind  of  disease  often 
puts  them  in  danger.  They  frequently  bring  medicine 
to  a  druggist  to  ask  him  if  they  shall  take  it.  One 
day  a  man  brought  arsenic  to  this  man's  store,  think- 
ing it  to  be  quinine.  The  Negro  needs  to  enter  the 
medical  profession  not  only  as  a  business  for  pecuniary 
profit  for  himself,  but  for  the  good  he  can  do  his 
people,  Dr.  Burwell  said.  Dr.  E.  E.  Elbert,  of  Wil- 
mington, Delaware,  and  Dr.  A.  M.  Brown,  of  Bir- 
mingham, Alabama,  continued  the  discussion  of  this 
subject. 

Mr.  Gilbert  C.  Harris,  of  Boston,  spoke  upon 
"Work  in  Hair."  As  a  young  man  Mr.  Harris 
came  to  Boston  from  the  South,  poor  and  with  a 
knowledge  of  no  business.  He  went  to  work  in  a 
store  where  hair  goods  were  made  and  sold,  and 
learned  the  trade  so  thoroughly  and  was  so  thrifty 
that  some  years  later,  when  the  business  was  to  be  sold, 
he  bought  it. 

Mrs.  A.  A.  Casneau,  a  dressmaker  of  Boston,  made 
an  excellent  address.  She  said  that  one  thing  that  the 
colored  people  needed  was  business  courage.  Mrs. 
Casneau  has  written  and  published  a  book  about 
dressmaking.  A  young  woman  in  a  New  England 
town  wrote  to  her  that  the  librarian  in  her  town 
had  called  her  attention  to  the  book,  that  she  had 


244  PROGRESS    OF    A    RACE. 

read  it,  and  that  as  she  wished  to  become  a  dressmaker 
and  there  were  two  or  three  lessons  in  the  book  which 
she  wished  to  see  demonstrated  she  wrote  to  ask  if  she 
could  arrange  to  come  to  Boston  and  have  Mrs.  Cas- 
neau  give  her  these  lessons.  "Such  an  arrangement 
was  made,"  Mrs.  Casneau  said,  "and  a  date  was  set 
when  she  was  to  come  to  Boston  and  call  upon  me.  I 
had  not  signed  my  letters  'colored'  and  I  knew  she 
had  no  idea  that  when  she  came  to  Boston  she  was  to 
come  to  see  a  colored  woman.  When  the  day  came 
for  her  first  visit,  I  found  that  that  was  to  be  a  weak 
time  in  my  experiences,  for  all  my  fortitude  forsook 
me,  and  I  hesitated,  right  on  my  own  ground,  to  meet 
a  woman  who  had  written  to  me  that  she  commended 
my  work  and  was  willing  to  pay  me  a  fair  price  for 
the  instruction  which  she  felt  that  my  experience  fitted 
me  to  give  her.  I  stood  outside  the  door  of  the  room 
into  which  she  had  been  shown,  and  pictured  to  my- 
self the  expression  on  her  face  when  I  went  in ;  how  she 
would  catch  her  breath  and  stammer,  and  ask  if  I 
was  the  person  she  had  been  corresponding  with. 
Finally  I  gave  myself  a  good  shaking  mentally,  and 
told  myself  that  if  I  allowed  such  circumstances  as 
these  to  master  me  I  was  not  worthy  of  success — that 
if  I  lost  confidence  in  myself  I  would  never  be  able  to 
teach  any  one  successfully. 

"Just  then  there  came  to  me  an  account  which  I  had 
read  of  how  a  colored  man  who  had  learned  dairying 
at  Tuskegee  Institute,  and  who  had  been  rejected  be- 
cause of  his  color  when  he  applied  for  a  place  as  man- 
ager of  a  creamery,  kept  on  talking  butter-making  and 
refused  to  consider  the  matter  of  his  color,  until  he 
had  finally  convinced  the  owners  of  the  dairy  of  his 
ability  to  such  a  degree  that  they  gave  him  a  trial  and 


NATIONAL    NEGRO    BUSINESS    LEAGUE.  245 

eventually  hired  him.  I  remembered  that  this  man's 
color  had  been  forgotten  by  these  business  men  when 
they  found  out  that  the  butter  which  he  made  for 
them  sold  for  three  cents  a  pound  more  than  any  that 
their  dairy  had  ever  made  before. 

"In  that  moment  all  my  fear  left  me.  I  entered  the 
room  a  woman,  not  particularly  a  colored  woman. 
The  woman  who  had  come  to  see  me  acted  just  as  I 
had  expected  she  would,  but  her  manner  had  no  effect 
upon  me  because  I  had  already  fought  out  my  battle 
from  within,  and  was  prepared  to  talk  so  fast  about 
my  work  and  what  she  wanted  to  know  that  I  did  not 
have  any  time  to  remember  that  I  was  colored.  I 
think  she  soon  forgot  it,  too.  At  any  rate  she  was 
soon  free  from  embarrassment.  I  sold  a  book  to  a 
friend  who  was  with  her,  gave  her  several  lessons, 
and,  best  of  all,  gained  in  self  strength.  I  came  to 
understand  that  wherever  a  man  or  woman  has  put 
conscientious,  skillful  effort  into  any  business,  he  or 
she,  regardless  of  color,  has  attained  a  degree  of  suc- 
cess equal  to  that  of  any  other  person  under  the  same 
conditions." 

One  interesting  and  helpful  feature  of  the  League 
has  been  the  fact  that  from  the  first  the  colored  busi- 
ness women  as  well  as  the  men,  have  been  included  in 
its  membership.  Some  of  the  most  helpful  and  en- 
couraging addresses  at  the  meetings  have  been  made 
by  women,  just  as  some  of  the  most  creditable  work 
of  the  race  in  business  lines  is  being  done  by  them. 

Mr.  VV.  R.  Pettiford,  the  president  of  the  colored 
bank  in  Birmingham,  Alabama,  spoke  upon  "The 
Negro  Savings  Bank."  He  emphasized  the  import- 
ance of  the  colored  people  having  savings  banks  of 
their  own,  and  the  great  incentive  which  these 


246  PROGRESS    OF    A    RACE. 

would  be  for  the  saving  of  money  and  the  baying  of 
homes. 

Mr.  Isaiah  T.  Montgomery,  the  mayor  of  Mound 
Bayou,  Mississippi,  spoke  upon  "The  Building  of  a 
Negro  Town."  Mr.  Montgomery  was  a  slave  of 
Jefferson  Davis  and  as  a  house  servant  employed  about 
the  library  and  office  of  Mr.  Davis  and  his  brother  Mr. 
Joe  Davis,  was  given  unusual  opportunities  to  acquire 
an  education.  After  the  slaves  were  freed  he  was 
employed  with  his  father  and  brother  for  some  years 
as  a  superintendent  on  the  plantation.  Wishing  to 
establish  a  Negro  community,  in  1887  he  made  arrange- 
ments with  a  large  railroad  company  to  colonize  a 
tract  of  wild  land  in  the  Yazoo  Delta.  The  town  of 
Mound  Bayou  is  the  result,  a  purely  Negro  commun- 
ity, having  churches,  a  good  school,  a  tributary 
agricultural  population  of  2,000,  four  cotton  gins, 
three  saw-mills,  and  several  stores,  the  latter  doing  a 
business  every  year  of  over  $30,000. 

Mr.  T.  W.  Walker,  of  Birmingham,  Alabama,  spoke 
on  "A  Negro  Coal  Mining  Company,"  giving  an 
account  of  the  operation  of  a  coal  mine  near  Birming- 
ham, of  which  he  is  the  president,  the  only  enterprise 
of  the.  kind  in  the  United  States.  Mr.  J.  C.  Left- 
wich,  of  Klondike,  Alabama,  spoke  upon  "The  Negro 
of  the  South,  and  what  he  must  do  to  be  saved. "  Mr. 
Leftwich  has  bought  200  acres  of  land  near  Mont- 
gomery, and  laid  out  a  Negro  town  which  he  lias 
named  Klondike.  Mr.  W.  O.  Emery,  of  Macon, 
Georgia,  spoke  upon  "Negro  Business  Enterprises." 
Among  other  items  in  his  report,  he  said  that  although 
Negro  railroad  men  were  not  allowed  to  become  con- 
ductors and  engineers,  there  were  Negro  brakemen 
and  firemen  in  his  city  who  earned  as  high  as  $80  a 


NATIONAL   NEGRO   BUSINESS    LEAGUE.  247 

month.  J.  A.  Williams,  of  Omaha,  spoke  for  the  col- 
ored people  of  that  city.  He  said  there  were  5,000 
colored  in  the  140,000  population  of  Omaha,  that  they 
owned  in  homes  $200,000  and  had  invested  in  business 
$50,000. 

One  of  the  best  addresses  was  that  made  by  Mr.  J. 
H.  Lewis,  a  tailor,  of  Boston,  who  thoroughly  deserves 
to  be  called  one  of  the  notable  men  of  his  race.  Mr. 
Lewis  was  formerly  a  slave.  He  began  work  for  him- 
self with  nothing.  His  tailoring  establishment  in 
Boston,  which  occupies  one  of  the  best  stores  in  the 
busiest  part  of  Washington  street,  is  one  of  the  finest 
in  the  city.  The  rent  of  this  store  is  nearly  $10,000  a 
year,  and  he  employs  men  whose  pay  ranges  from  $40 
to  $75  a  week.  What  Mr.  Lewis  said  was  so  sound 
and  practical  that  I  quote  a  few  sentences  from  his 
address:  "In  this  business  world  of  ours  happily  there 
is  no  color.  Every  tub  stands  upon  its  own  bottom. 
Fortunately  human  selfishness,  the  desire  of  every 
man  to  get  all  he  can  for  the  least  effort  or  money,  has 
banished  all  prejudice.  If  you  can  make  a  better 
article  than  anybody  else,  and  sell  it  cheaper  than  any- 
body else,  you  can  command  the  markets  of  the  world. 
Produce  something  that  somebody  wants,  whether  it  be 
a  shoestring  or  a  savings  bank,  and  the  purchaser  or 
patron  will  not  trouble  to  ask  who  the  seller  is.  Rec- 
ognize this  fundamental  law  of  trade,  add  to  it  tact, 
good  manners,  a  resolute  will,  a  tireless  capacity  for 
hard  work,  and  you  will  succeed  in  business." 

Mr.  R.  T.  Palmer,  a  tailor  and  men's  furnisher  in 
Columbia.  South  Carolina,  spoke  on  the  business  con- 
ditions in  his  part  of  the  country.  Mrs.  A.  M.  Smith, 
of  Chicago,  spoke  upon  "Women's  Development  in 
Business." 


£48  PROGRESS  OF  A  RACE. 

Mr.  Theodore  W.  Jones,  of  Chicago,  the  proprietor 
of  a  large  furniture  moving  and  storage  business, 
spoke,  his  topic  being,  4tGo  Into  Business."  Mr. 
Jones,  like  Mr.  Lewis,  may  justly  be  spoken  of  as  a 
notable  man.  He  began  life  with  no  capital  but 
energy  and  ambition,  and  drove  an  express  wagon  for 
wages  until  he  had  saved  money  enough  to  buy  a  team 
of  his  own.  He  owns  and  manages  to-day  a  four-story 
furniture  storage  warehouse,  and  a  trucking  business 
of  forty  vehicles,  seven  of  them  being  huge  furniture 
vans  that  cost  $1,000  each.  He  employs  regularly 
forty  persons,  and  in  the  busy  season  the  number  rises 
to  seventy-five.  I  do  not  wish  to  be  understood  as 
meaning  that  Mr.  Jones  told  all  these  things  about 
himself  in  his  address  before  the  League.  Like  Mr, 
Lewis,  he  is  too  modest  a  man  to  speak  much  of  him- 
self. I  am  telling  here  only  what  I  have  seen  for 
myself  of  his  business  in  Chicago. 

Mr.  David  B.  Allen,  of  Newport,  Rhode  Island, 
spoke  upon  "Catering/'  and  an  excellent  paper  was 
read  upon  "The  Afro- American  as  a  Caterer,"  writ- 
ten by  Mr.  C.  H.  Smiley,  of  Chicago,  a  man  who 
began  work  for  himself  as  a  waiter  in  a  small  restaurant 
at  wages  of  a  few  dollars  a  week.  Mr.  Smiley  now 
owns  and  occupies  a  four-story  building,  from  which 
he  operates  a  first-class  catering  business.  As  is  the 
case  with  Mr.  Lewis  and  Mr.  Jones,  I  speak  of  what 
I  have  personally  seen  of  Mr.  Smiley 's  business.  His 
patronage  includes  some  of  the  wealthiest  and  most 
fastidious  people  of  Chicago.  He  has  the  china,  glass, 
silver  and  linen  to  set  out  a  small  dinner  in  such  style 
as  to  please  the  most  exacting,  or  to  supply  a  collation 
to  a  company  numbering  hundreds. 

Mr.  T.  Thomas  Fortune,   the  editor  and   publisher 


NATIONAL  NEGRO   BUSINESS   LEAGUE.  249 

of  The  New  York  Age,  spoke  upon  "The  Negro 
Publisher."  Mr.  T.  H.  Thomas,  of  Galveston,  had 
for  a  subject,  "Barbering. "  Mr.  George  E.  Jones,  of 
Little  Rock,  Arkansas,  spoke  upon  "Undertaking,"  of 
which  he  is  a  prosperous  representative.  He  said  that 
Little  Rock  is  the  only  city  in  which  there  is  a  street 
railway  built,  owned  and  operated  by  colored  men. 
Mr.  J.  K.  Graves,  of  Kansas  City,  spoke  upon  **  Potato 
Growing."  Mr.  A.  F.  Crawford,  of  Meriden,  Con- 
necticut, had  for  a  topic  "The  Negro  Florist."  Mr. 
E.  B.  Jourdain,  of  New  Bedford,  Massachusetts,  spoke 
upon  the  business  conditions  of  that  city.  Mr.  D.  J. 
Cunningham,  a  successful  grocer  of  Pensacola,  Florida, 
spoke  upon  general  merchandising  there,  and  the  same 
subject  was  continued  by  Mr.  E.  P.  Booze,  of  Clarks- 
dale,  Mississippi.  Mr.  J.  P.  Fowlkes,  of  Evington, 
Virginia,  explained  how  co-operative  stores  have  been 
established  in  his  state.  Mr.  F.  G.  Stedman,  a  founder 
and  manufacturer,  of  East  Hampton,  Connecticut, 
spoke  upon  "Bell  Making,"  and  presented  the  League 
with  a  souvenir  bell  made  by  himself.  Mr.  J.  N.  Vande- 
vall,  of  East  Orange,  New  Jersey,  described  his  busi- 
ness of  steam  cleaning  high-grade  rugs  and  carpets,  in 
which  fifteen  persons  are  employed. 

Second  Annual  Meeting  of  the  League. — The  sec- 
ond annual  meeting  of  the  League  was  held  in  Handel 
Hall,  Chicago,  August  21-23,  1901,  under  the  auspices 
of  the  local  organization  of  the  Cook  County  Negro 
Business  Men's  League.  As  was  true  at  the  Boston 
meeting,  fully  three-quarters  of  the  states  were  repre- 
sented by  delegates.  The  hall  was  crowded  at  all  of 
the  meetings  and  a  keen  interest  was  maintained  in  all 
of  the  discussions.  The  people  of  Chicago  were 
untiring  in  their  efforts  to  make  the  occasion  one  of 


250  PROGRESS    OF    A    RACE. 

pleasure  and  profit  for  their  visitors.  In  addition  to 
the  meetings  in  Handel  Hall,  a  banquet  and  reception 
were  given  in  the  First  Regiment  Armory,  at  which 
an  opportunity  was  afforded  for  social  intercourse  and 
acquaintance. 

The  late  President  William  McKinley  honored  the 
League  by  a  telegram  expressing  his  good  wishes  for 
the  organization  and  the  race. 

The  officers  elected  at  the  second  annual  meeting 
were  President,  Booker  T.  Washington,  Tuskegee, 
Alabama;  Vice-presidents,  Giles  B.  Jackson,  Rich- 
mond, Virginia;  Mrs.  D.  R.  Robinson,  St.  Louis, 
Missouri;  Charles  Banks,  Clarksdale,  Mississippi;  Re- 
cording Secretary,  Edward  E.  Cooper,  Washington; 
Corresponding  Secretary,  Emmett  J.  Scott,  Tuskegee, 
Alabama;  Treasurer,  Gilbert  C.  Harris,  Boston;  Com- 
piler, S.  Laing  Williams,  Chicago;  Registrar,  P.  J. 
Smith,  Boston;  Executive  Committee,  T.  Thomas 
Fortune,  New  York;  Dr.  S.  B.  Courtney,  Boston;  T. 
W.  Jones,  Chicago;  George  E.  Jones,  Little  Rock;  N. 
T.  Veler,  Brinton,  Pennsylvania;  W.  L.  Taylor,  Rich- 
mond, Virginia;  T.  A.  Brown,  San  Francisco,  Cali- 
fornia i  J.  C.  Napier,  Nashville,  Tennessee;  M.  M. 
Lewey,  Pensacola,  Florida. 

As  was  true  of  the  Boston  meeting,  it  would  be  im- 
possible for  me,  within  the  limits  allowed  me  here,  to 
do  more  than  mention  some  of  the  speakers  and  some 
of  the  more  important  addresses  and  papers.  Mr.  W. 
L.  Taylor,  of  Richmond,  Virginia,  spoke  upon  "The 
Business  Features  of  the  Order  of  True  Reformers." 
Mr.  J.  A.  Wilson,  of  Kansas  City,  Missouri,  told 
"What  the  Twin-City  Business  Association  is  Accom- 
plishing/' Mr.  Theodore  W.  Jones,  of  Chicago,  had 
for  a  topic,  "Can  the  Negro  Succeed  as  a  Business 


NATIONAL    NEGRO    BUSINESS    LEAGUE.  251 

Man?"  Charles  Banks,  of  Clarksdale,  Mississippi, 
spoke  upon  "Merchandising,"  and  William  O.  Murphy, 
of  Atlanta,  upon  "The  Grocery  Business."  Mr.  Har- 
ris Bartlett,  of  Hampton,  Virginia,  spoke  upon  the 
"Hampton  Building  and  Loan  Association,"  and  Mr. 
A.  N.  Johnson,  of  Mobile,  up<an  the  business  enter- 
prises of  his  city.  £)r.  Willis  E.  Sterrs,  of  Decatur, 
Alabama,  discussed  "The  Drug  Business,"  and  Mr. 
S.  R.  Scottron,  of  Brooklyn, "Mistakes  to  be  Avoided." 
Mrs.  Dora  A.  Millar,  of  New  York,  told  of  the 
"Colored  Business  Women  in  the  East,"  and  Mr. 
Lloyd  G.  Wheeler,  of  Chicago,  spoke  upon  "Merchant 
Tailoring."  Walter  P.  Hall,  of  Philadelphia,  spoke 
upon  "The  Game  and  Poultry  Business;"  Mrs.  Emma 
L.  Pitts,  of  Macon,  Georgia,  "Dressmaking  and  Milli- 
nery."  Other  topics  were  "Carriage  Manufactur- 
ing," by  F.  D.  Patterson,  of  Greenfield,  Ohio;  "Real 
Estate,"  by  J.  C.  Napier,  of  Nashville;  "The  Negro  in 
Insurance,"  by  W.  F.  Graham,  Richmond,  Virginia; 
"The  Negro  as  a  Silk  Operative,"  T.  W.  Thurston, 
Fayetteville,  North  Carolina;  "The  Negro  Publishing 
House,"  R.  H.  Boyd,  Nashville,  and  "Catering,"  by 
J.  Hockley  Smiley,  of  Chicago,  and  Jno.  S.  Trower,  of 
Philadelphia.  Mr.  Anthony  Overton,  of  Kansas  City, 
Kansas,  spoke  on  "The  Negro  as  a  Manufacturer  and 
Jobber,"  Mr.  T.  Thomas  Fortune,  of  New  York,  on 
"The  Logic  of  Business  Development,"  and  Mr.  S.  L. 
Davis,  the  mayor  of  Hobson  City,  Alabama,  another 
purely  Negro  community,  upon  "The  Founding  of  a 
Negro  City." 

Negroes  Are  Uniting  in  Praiseworthy  Efforts.— It 
sometimes  has  been  said  that  the  Negroes  cannot  come 
together;  that  they  cannot  unite  in  praiseworthy  effort, 
Such  meetings  as  the  Business  League  have  held  have 


252  PROGRESS   OF    A    RACE. 

demonstrated  that  this  is  not  the  case.  One  thing 
that  has  given  me  much  encouragement,  and  which,  I 
may  add,  came  as  something  of  a  surprise  to  me,  has 
been  the  manly,  straightforward  way  in  which  the 
speakers  at  these  meetings  have  described  their  work 
and  the  communities  in  which  they  live.  There  have 
been  no  complaints.  We  have  .heard  no  man  asking 
for  consideration  because  of  his  color  or  the  location 
of  his  place  of  business.  I  believe  that  the  spirit  of 
these  meetings  is  being  carried  by  the  delegates — and 
through  the  influence  of  the  local  leagues — into  every 
part  of  the  country,  and  that  where  there  have  been 
lack  of  union  and  lukewarmness,  in  the  future  there 
will  be  union  and  a  hearty  support  for  all  those  efforts 
that  look  to  the  upbuilding  of  our  people.  In  the 
communities  in  which  we  live,  we  need  to  put  aside 
any  feeling  of  jealousy,  and  come  together.  No  mat- 
ter in  what  business  we  are  engaged,  we  ought  to 
want  to  meet  the  brother  from  across  the  street  and 
shake  hands  with  him,  and  then  stand  together  in  the 
community.  I  hope  that  each  year  will  see  a  greater 
number  of  delegates  at  the  meetings  of  the  League, 
and  an  increased  interest,  and  that  through  this  organ- 
ization there  will  be  disseminated  a  confidence  that,  not- 
withstanding color,  we  can  succeed  as  business  men. 

We  must  not,  in  any  part  of  the  country,  become 
discouraged,  even  if  the  way  at  times  does  seem  dark 
and  desolate.  We  must  maintain  faith  in  ourselves 
and  in  our  country.  No  race  ever  got  upon  its  feet 
without  struggle,  trial  and  discouragement.  It  is  said 
that  one  of  the  causes  that  led  to  the  freeing  of  the 
serfs  of  Russia  was  that  some  of  them  had  persevered 
in  industry  and  economy  until  they  had  acquired 
enough  property  to  enable  them  to  have  influence  with 


NATIONAL    NEGRO   BUSINESS   LEAGUE.  253 

the  government.  Every  race  and  every  individual  that 
has  succeeded  has  had  to  pay  the  price  that  nature 
demands  from  all.  No  one  can  get  something  for  noth- 
ing. Every  member  of  the  race  who  succeeds  in  busi- 
ness— however  simple  and  humble  that  business  may 
be — will  succeed  because  he  has  learned  the  important 
lessons  of  cleanliness,  promptness,  system,  honesty 
and  progressiveness.  Every  person  who  does  this  is 
not  only  succeeding  for  himself,  but  is  smoothing  the 
path  for  the  generations  that  are  to  follow.  And,  let 
me  repeat  it  here,  I  do  not  believe  that  any  one  can 
long  succeed  unless  he  does  observe  the  principles 
which  I  have  just  enumerated.  No  matter  under  what 
conditions  we  may  find  that  our  work  is  to  be  done,  we 
only  need  to  keep  in  mind  the  truth  that  the  law  which 
recognizes  and  rewards  merit— no  matter  under  what 
skin  found — is  universal  and  eternal,  and  can  no  more 
be  nullified  than  the  life-giving  influence  of  the  daily 
sun  can  be  destroyed. 

I  have  faith  in  the  timeliness  of  this  organization. 
As  I  have  gone  about  the  country  I  have  been  encour- 
aged by  the  fact  that  almost  without  exception, 
whether  in  the  North  or  in  the  South,  wherever  I  have 
seen  a  Negro  who  was  succeeding  in  business,  who 
was  a  taxpayer,  a  man  who  possessed  intelligence 
and  high  moral  character,  that  man  was  treated  with 
respect  by  the  people  of  both  races.  In  proportion  as 
we  can  multiply  these  examples  North  and  South,  our 
problem  will  be  near  to  solution.  Let  every  Negro 
strive  to  become  the  most  useful  and  most  indispens- 
able man  in  his  community.  When  an  individual  pro- 
duces what  the  world  wants,  whether  it  be  a  product 
of  the  hand,  head  or  heart,  the  world  does  not  stop  long- 
to  inquire  what  is  the  color  of  the  skin  of  the  producer. 


254  PROGRESS    OF    A    RACE. 

The  Negro  Business  League  does  not,  however,  by 
any  means  overlook  the  fact  that  mere  material  posses- 
sions are  not,  and  should  not  be  made,  the  chief  end 
of  life.  The  promoters  of  the  organization  appreciate 
very  keenly  the  truth  that  the  race  cannot  depend 
upon  mere  material  growth  for  its  ultimate  success, 
but  they  do  believe  that  material  prosperity  will  greatly 
hasten  their  growth,  and  that  it  will  enlarge  their  op- 
portunities for  securing  an  education  and  development 
that  will  enhance  their  usefulness,  and  aid  them  to 
promote  their  country's  highest  welfare. 

I  hope  that  the  League  will  show  more  and  more 
each  year  how  much  reason  we  as  a  race  have  to 
be  encouraged — how  many  opportunities  there  are 
through  which  the  men  and  women  of  the  race  may 
rise.  As  Mr.  Garrison  said,  when  speaking  at  one  of 
the  meetings  of  the  League:  "Who  will  take  the  job 
of  keeping  down — of  repressing — such  an  audience  as 
this?" 

There  is  no  force  on  earth  that  can  keep  back  a 
people  continually  getting  education,  property  and 
Christian  character.  In  our  efforts  to  grow  we  may 
fora  while  have  obstacles  cast  in  our  pathway;  we 
may  be  inconvenienced,  but  we  never  can  be  defeated 
in  our  purpose  to  become  good  and  useful  citizens. 

NOTE.— The  full  records  of  the  meeting  of  the  Business  League  in 
Boston  have  been  published  in  book  form  by  Mr.  J.  R.  Hamm,  of  Boston. 


CHAPTER  XI. 

PROGRESS  IN  INDUSTRIES. 
FARMS     AND     HOMES SKILLED     LABOR. 

Progress  in  Industries. — When  we  remember  that 
thirty-five  years  ago  the  Negro  was  in  slavery  it  is 
certainly  remarkable  to  note  the  progress  made  in  all 
lines  of  industry.  Keeping  in  mind  some  of  the  diffi- 
culties the  Negro  has  had  to  strive  against  the  progress 
made  in  industries  is  commendable.  All  throughout 
the  South  are  found  men  who  stand  at  the  head  in 
the  various  lines  of  business.  Be  it  said  to  the  credit 
of  the  colored  people,  and  greatly  to  their  benefit,  that 
the  race  has  in  its  possession  a  sound  means  of  dis- 
playing its  progress. 

United  Efforts. — While  much  has  been  done  in  all 
lines  of  business,  yet  very  much  more  remains  to  be 
done  before  the  Negro  holds  that  place  in  business  to 
which  he  is  entitled.  In  order  to  accomplish  what 
should  be  done  in  this  respect  it  is  necessary  that  there 
be  united  efforts  on  the  part  of  the  race  to  assist  one 
another  in  every  business  enterprise.  Wherever  men 
of  the  Negro  race  attempt  to  increase  the  advantages 
of  the  race  there  should  be  found  those  who  stand  by 
them  and  support  them.  With  the  full  confidence  and 
patronage  of  the  people  the  Negro  race  will  have  rich 
merchants  and  capitalists  carrying  on  rich  business 
enterprises  in  every  section  of  the  country,  that  will 
demand  the  respect  and  recognition  of  the  world. 

No  More  Speedy  Remedy. — Let  the  race  continue 
in  the  progress  that  it  has  made  the  last  thirty  years ; 
let  the  Negro  push  out  into  different  enterprises  and 

255 


•256 


1.  President  Farmer's  Club  and  Mercantile  Union,  Hogansville,  Ga. 

2.  Recorder  ot  Deeds.  Washington. 

3.  Dry  Goods  Merchant,  Montgomery,  Ala. 

4.  Inventor  of  Food  Heating  Apparatus,  Philadelphia. 
-5.  Restaurant  Keeper,  Richmond,  Va. 


HORACE  KING  &  SONS,  BRIDGE  BUILDERS  AND 
CONTRACTORS,  ATLANTA,  GA. 


PROGRESS   IN   INDUSTRIES.  257 

assist  in  controlling1  large  business  enterprises,  and 
this  alone  will  be  worth  more  than  any  other  remedy 
in  suppressing  and  eradicating  prejudice  on  account  of 
color  and  blotting  out  the  iniquitous  legislation 
against  the  race  in  the  South,  wiping  every  unjust  law 
from  the  statutes. 

A  Progressive  Age.— We  live  in  a  progressive  age ; 
here  we  are  in  the  evening  of  the  nineteenth  century 
with  all  the  modern  inventions  and  discoveries  of  the 
telegraph,  telephone  and  electricity.  There  is  no  rea- 
son why  the  race  should  remain  any  longer  in  the  dark. 
In  unity  there  is  strength,  and  when  the  colored  people 
stand  shoulder  to  shoulder,  advancing  the  standard  of 
the  race  in  all  industries,  then  will  the  colored  man's 
prospects  in  business  be  as  bright  as  those  of  the 
Anglo-Saxon. 

Race  Pride. — In  order  that  progress  in  these  lines 
shall  be  made  it  is  necessary  that  the  colored  men 
everywhere  encourage  one  another,  and  when  a  colored 
man  progresses  in  business  not  to  envy  his  prosperity, 
but  rather  to  be  proud  of  him  and  his  success,  throw- 
ing away  envy,  jealousy  and  race  hatred.  Race  pride 
must  be  cultivated.  As  the  different  nationalities, 
Irish,  Jews,  Germans  and  other  people  arc  recognized 
and  respected  only  as  they  are  united  and  held 
together,  so  it  is  essential  that  the  Negroes  should 
stand  united  in  helping  one  another  by  their  speech, 
by  pen,  by  vote,  and  by  money. 

Consumers. — The  Negro  race  is  a  race  of  consumers, 
and  it  is  essential  that  it  be  a  race  of  producers. 
When  it  reaches  this  point,  that  the  colored  man  is  able 
to  manufacture  as  well  as  consume,  he  will  have  the 

r<K£>ect  of  all.  The  industrial  schools  of  the  South  are 
£*•  17  Progress. 

^ 


258  PROGRESS   OF   A   RACE. 

doing  more  in  this  respect,  in  bringing  up  the  masses 
to  a  realization  of  their  privileges,  than  any  other 
agency. 

Brains  and  Labor. — If  the  Negro  is  to  succeed  it  is 
essential  that  in  the  first  place  he  dignify  labor,  and  in 
the  second  place  that  he  put  brains  into  labor. 

Thrift  and  Industry.— Rev.  J.  E.  Edwards,  D.  D., 
a  white  man  of  learning  and  exalted  character,  says : 
4 'Hand  in  hand  with  the  progress  of  education  among 
the  Negro  population  of  Petersburg,  Virginia,  there 
has  been  a  corresponding  progress  in  industry,  thrift, 
morals  and  manners  of  the  race.  Their  ability  to  live 
at  less  expense  than  the  poor  whites  has  enabled  the 
more  provident  of  them  to  lay  by  a  larger  surplus  from 
their  earnings,  and,  as  a  result,  they  are  buying  lots, 
and  in  some  instances  putting  up  comfortable  and  taste- 
fully constructed  residences.  The  marriage  relation 
is  recognized  by  them  as  of  more  binding  obligation 
than  formerly,  both  in  its  civil  and  moral  respects. 
The  family  idea  is  a  healthful  growth.  Self-respect 
and  self  reliance  are  on  the  advance. 

Improving  in  Morals. — They  are  property  owners, 
shop  keepers,  manufacturers,  contractors,  master  build- 
ers, mechanics  and  laborers,  competing  fairly  and  with 
out  let  or  hindrance  with  the  whites.  They  are  con- 
stantly improving  in  morals,  in  thrift  and  industry,  and 
are  rapidly  advancing  in  civilization,  refinement  and 
learning. 

Peaceable  Community. — The  present  population  of 
Petersburg  may  be  put  down  in  round  numbers  at  22,000 
— say  10,000  whites  and  12,000  colored — giving  the 
Negroes  2,000  majority  in  the  whole  population.  At 
the  ballot-box  the  Negroes  can  poll  a  larger  number 
than  the  whites.  But  with  this  predominance  of  the 


PROGRESS   IN   INDUSTRIES.  250 

Negro  population  we  have  the  most  gratifying  spectacle 
presented  of  one  of  the  most  orderly,  quiet  and  peaceable 
communities  anywhere  to  be  found  in  all  these  broad 
lands.  There  is,  comparatively,  but  little  litigation  in 
the  civil  courts  of  the  corporation ;  and  the  police  record 
will  compare  favorably  with  that  of  any  city  of  the  same 
population  in  the  whole  country.  The  Mayor's  court 
is  often  held  without  a  case,  even  of  misdemeanor. 
Felonies  are  infrequent,  and  of  those  that  do  occur, 
which  are  sent  up  to  higher  tribunals,  the  parties  are 
quite  as  often  white  as  colored.  Disturbances  of  the 
peace  are  not  more  common  among  the  Negroes  than 
among  the  whites.  Life,  limb  and  property  are  as 
secure  and  as  well  protected  in  Petersburg  by  day  and 
night  as  in  any  city  of  22,000  population  in  the  United 
States  of  America. 

No  Idle  Boasting. — The  appeal  from  any  question 
of  these  facts  is  to  our  records — police,  civil  and  crim- 
inal; and  when  it  is  remembered  that  there  are  12,000 
Negroes  and  only  10,000  whites  in  the  city,  the  record 
is  as  creditable  as  it  is  really  wonderful.  It  is  very 
much  questioned  whether  a  parallel  can  be  found  in  all 
this  country. 

Testimonials  of  Hampton  Students. — The  following 
items  taken  from  "Twenty-two  years'  work  at  Hamp- 
ton, ' '  being  the  testimony  of  graduates  of  that  school, 
are  worthy  of  consideration.  If  any  one  is  unable  to 
judge  whether  the  Negro  is  rising  or  not,  the  reliable 
testimony  of  these  graduates  ought  to  decide  the  ques- 
tion: 

James  A.  Fields,  Hampton,  Virginia.— "All  things 
considered,  the  condition  of  the  colored  people  is  good. 
They  are  rapidly  improving  in  religion,  intelligence, 
and  morals.  My  property  consists  mostly  of  land  and 


260  PROGRESS   OF   A   RACE. 

house,  in  value  six  thousand  dollars.     I  have  only  one 
child,  the  finest  boy  in  Christendom." 

David  D.  Weaver,  Philadelphia,  Pennsylvania.— "I 
employ  more  help  and  do  more  work  than  any  other 
colored  shoemaker  in  Philadelphia,  and  have  had  the 
lead  for  five  years.  I  am  doing  as  much  for  my  people 
as  I  could  in  the  school  room.  The  colored  people  are 
progressing;  they  work.  The  money  is  made  and  the 
money  is  spent.  The  greatest  barrier  is  that  they  do 
not  look  beyond  to-day.  They  expect  every  day  to 
take  care  of  itself.  With  such  short  calculations  they 
are  often  found  wanting.  There  are  many  exceptions 
to  this  rule.  There  are  men  here  who  are  doing  good 
business  and  making  great  headway  in  the  world. ' ' 

Lewis  Peyton,  Wabash,  Indiana.— ''The  intellectual 
religious,  moral,  industrious  and  economical  status  of 
the  people  varies  much  in  different  sections  of  the 
country.  Where  they  are  settled  down  and  have  their 
homes  and  regular  pursuits,  they  are  prosperous,  and 
every  way  in  a  prospering  condition. ' ' 

George  F.  Galloway,  Halifax  County,  Virginia.— 
"In  this  section  of  the  state  our  people  show  a  decided 
improvement.  As  a  rule,  they  are  farmers.  Some 
own  their  homes,  and  a  few  own  large  tracts  of  land 
varying  from  forty  to  twelve  hundred  acres." 

William  P.  Henry,  Berlin,  Maryland.— In  this  com- 
munity, which  I  believe  was  one  of  the  worst  places 
below  Mason's  and  Dixon's  line  for  prejudice  and 
Negro  persecution,  the  Negro  people  are  grasping 
every  effort  that  will  lift  them  higher  in  the  intel- 
lectual, moral  and  social  scale.  They  are  generally 
sober  and  industrious,  and  they  adhere  strictly  to 
economy,  through  which  the  rude  hut  and  log  cabin 


PROGRESS  IN  INDUSTRIES. 


261 


are  rapidly  being  transformed  into  neat  cottages,  with 
their  domestic  improvements. ' ' 

L.  L.  Ivy,  Danville,  Virginia. — "The  colored  people 
in  this  vicinity  are  improving  slowly  but  surely,  get- 
ting little  homes,  and  making  great  sacrifices  to  do  as 
other  people." 


NEGRO  FARMER'S  ONE-ROOM  LOG  CABIN. 

William  B.  Weaver,  Sassafras,  Virginia.— "The  col- 
ored people  in  this  neighborhood  are  industrious  and 
temperate.  Some  accumulate  property  and  have  good 
homes,  and  are  interested  in  the  work  of  education." 

R.  H.  Matthews,  Pensacola,  Florida. — "On  account 
of  the  large  number  of  dram-shops  and  the  tendency 
of  our  people  to  patronize  them,  their  condition  is  not 
what  we  might  desire.  They  are  badly  divided  and 
will  seldom  unite  for  any  public  good;  this  is  on 
account  of  the  narrow  and  ignorant  spirit  engendered 
fri'  our  churches  by  ignorant  ministers.  Not  withstand- 


262  PROGRESS   OP  A   RACE. 

ing,  there  is  gradual  progress.  Hard  work,  honesty 
and  frugality  are  the  means  by  which  we  are  to  rise. 
I  own  property  in  Columbus,  Georgia,  and  in  Pensa- 
cola  worth  three  thousand  dollars. ' ' 

Robert  H.  Hamilton,  one  of  the  Hampton  Student 
Singers,  now  Assisting  in  the  Normal  at  Tuskegee. 
"To  the  thoughtful  Negro  there  is  a  great  deal  in  the 
condition  of  his  people  to  make  him  sigh.  Such  a 
dense  mass  of  humanity  steeped  in  ignorance !  Who 
can  foresee  the  danger  and  bloodshed  that  may  yet 
overtake  this  sunny  land?  While  these  men  and  women 
have  the  minds  of  children,  they  have  the  passions  of 
age.  However,  as  dark  as  things  may  be,  they  are  not 
so  bad  as  they  were.  It  is  fair  to  say  the  Negro  of  the 
South  is  rising. ' ' 

Mrs.  William  Day,  Greensboro,  North  Carolina. — 
"The  general  condition  of  our  people  in  Greensboro  is 
good.  There  are  few  renters  now  among  good  me- 
chanics. We  have  good  schools  and  churches;  one 
colored  doctor.  Our  people  have  certainly  improved 
themselves  and  are  second  to  no  other  town  in  this 
respect." 

Mrs,  F.  Galloway,  Lynchburg,  Virginia.— "When  I 
first  came  to  this  place  there  were  not  many  people 
owning  property.  They  were  renting  from  their  mas- 
ters or  from  some  other  white  man,  paying  as  much 
for  a  cabin  a  year  as  it  would  take  to  buy  an  acre  of 
land.  Some  of  the  houses,  actually,  were  not  good 
enough  for  horses  to  stay  in.  Today  for  two  or  three 
miles  around  you  will  find  colored  people  owning 
from  two  to  twenty  acres  of  land,  horses,  cows,  farm- 
ing implements,  and  raising  their  own  bread.  When 
we  were  married  we  did  not  own  anything;  now  we 


PROGRESS   IN   INDUSTRIES.  263 

have  two  and  one-half  acres  of  land  and  a  comfortable 
little  house  to  live  in. ' ' 

Mrs.  George  E.  Rumsey,  Thomas  Run,  Maryland.— 
"The  majority  of  the  colored  people  at  Thomas  Run 
are  property-holders,  and  are  improving  their  lands 
considerably.  My  husband  has  a  farm,  and  owns  thirty- 
three  acres  of  land. ' ' 

C.  R.  Creekmur,  Deep  Creek,  Virginia. — "I  own  a 
house  and  lot  with  four  and  one-half  acres  of  land, 
farming  utensils,  etc.  The  people  are  poor  and  igno- 
rant. There  are,  however,  signs  of  improvement. 
Several  have  purchased  homes  and  they  are  working 
nicely  in  that  direction. ' ' 

Mrs.  Mary  Owen,  Warrentown,  North  Carolina.— 
"Large  numbers  of  Negroes  here  own  homes.  Some 
have  nice  large  houses,  others  have  small  but  neat 
ones.  They  are,  as  a  rule,  making  rapid  progress. ' ' 

Mrs.  Briscoe,  Mecklenburg,  North  Carolina. — "The 
general  condition  of  the  Negro  people  is  improving. 
There  are  many  who  do  not  take  as  much  interest  in 
bettering  their  condition  as  they  should,  but  there  are 
many  who  have  made  marked  progress  in  business  and 
intellectual  matters. ' ' 

E.  D.  Stewart,  Farmville,  Virginia.— "  The  condition 
of  the  colored  peope  is  hopeful.  They  are  accumulat- 
ing property  and  educating  their  children. ' ' 

J.  B.  Tynes,  Smithville,  Virginia.— "  The  colored 
people  in  the  main  are  financially  embarrassed,  but 
here  and  there  are  signs  of  improvement. " 

Mrs.  Martin,  Carlisle,  Ohio.— "We  own  property 
valued  at  about  three  thousand  dollars.  I  do  not  find 
the  majority  of  the  colored  people  so  far  advanced  as  I 
expected,  considering  the  advantages  they  have  had 
compared  with  the  colored  people  of  the  South." 


264  PROGRESS  OF  A  RACE. 

Frances   L.   Butt,   Germantown,   Pennsylvania. — 

"The  colored  people  are  improving  financially,  but  the 
young  girls  are  not  doing  well.  Their  standard  is 
low." 

C.  E.  Vanharler. — "The  people  are  slowly  climbing 
the  ladder  of  prosperity." 

Julia  E.  Coles,  Halifax  County,  Virginia. — "In  some 
places  the  people  are  very  well  situated,  owning  a 

small  tract  of  land  with  a  good  house  on  it.  In 

they  are  in  a  worse  condition  than  in  any  other  place. 
The  people  are  very  poor,  living  in  houses  no  better 
than  sheds,  and  with  the  poorest  kind  of  food.  This 
is  true  of  the  whites  as  well  as  the  colored." 

J.  W.  Brown,  Winchester,  Virginia.— "The  Negroes 
in  this  section  are  inaiisfrious  and  independent,  and, 
although  some  spend  the  greater  part  of  their  hard 
earnings  foolishly,  they  have  money  enough  to  secure 
for  themselves  comfortable  homes,  which  the  majority 
have.  The  homes  differ  with  the  ambition  of  the 
owner.  Their  cost  ranges  from  one  hundred  dollars 
up  into  the  thousands.  Some  own  farms  of  from 
fifty  to  two  hundred  acres.  The  richest  colored  man 
in  the  county  is  said  to  be  worth  more  than  fifty  thou- 
sand dollars.  I  do  not  think  you  will  find  a  dozen  beg- 
gars in  our  town,  and  the  Negro  population  is  over  two 
thousand. ' '  * 

Hope  and  Progress. — The  best  hope  of  the  South  is 
in  the  manufacture  of  her  raw  material.  The  best 
hope  of  the  Negro  is  in  his  application  to  the  various 
callings  of  industry.  The  future  commercial  greatness 
of  the  South  depends  upon  the  measure  in  which  she 
manufactures  her  iron,  wood,  and  cotton  into  articles 
of  merchandise,  and  the  happiness  and  well  being  of 
the  Negro  depend  upon  the  part  that  he  elects  to  play 


PROGRESS   IN  INDUSTRIES.  265 

in  this  drama  of  industrial  progress.  Will  he,  by 
careful  training,  fit  himself  as  an  artisan  and  thus  con- 
tribute to  his  country's  progress  and  to  his  own  uplift- 
ing, or  will  he  scorn  the  homely  callings  of  industry 
and  devote  himself  to  college  lore  and  starvation? 
The  South  will  one  day  be  the  nation's  workshop. 
Whence  will  come  her  workmen?  In  the  solution  of 
this  problem  is  wrapped  up  the  hope  and  progress  of 
the  Negro. 

Dignity  and  Nobility  of  Manual  Labor.— When  the 
colored  citizen  can  demonstrate  his  usefulness  as  a 
member  of  society,  his  rise  to  a  higher  plane  of  liberty 
and  independence  is  assured.  Industrial  training  will 
help  students  to  appreciate  the  dignity  and  nobility  of 
manual  labor;  will  make  them  self-reliant,  competent 
to  lay  out  work  for  others,  to  oversee  the  erection  of  a 
dwelling  house,  a  school  house,  a  meeting  house ;  will 
make  them  industrial  leaders,  and,  in  a  modest  way, 
capitalists,  enabling  them  to  own  a  house,  a  farm, 
working  with  the  hands  in  the  intervals  of  preaching 
or  teaching ;  and  all  this  not  for  themselves  alone — they 
should  never  lose  sight  of  the  idea  of  service,  that  he 
who  would  be  first  must  become  the  servant  of  all. 

In  the  Business  World. — If  the  Negro  is  to  maintain 
his  place  in  the  business  world  as  an  industrial  and 
commercial  factor,  it  behooves  him  to  put  on  his  think- 
ing cap ;  no  force  without  will  help  him.  He  must  rise, 
if  he  rises  at  all,  through  his  own  efforts.  He  is  not 
wanted  in  many  of  the  avenues  of  opportunity  and  will 
be  shut  out  if  he  does  not  get  to  thinking  for  himself. 
The  politician  has  no  use  for  him  excepting  before  elec- 
tion. If  he  would  maintain  his  place,  he  must,  of 
necessity,  think  for  himself. 

Half  Free. — Booker  T.  Washington,  that  wise  leader 


PROGRESS   IN  INDUSTRIES.  267 

of  the  colored  race,  never  spoke  more  truly  and  pithily 
than  when  he  said:  "The  black  man  who  cannot  let 
love  and  sympathy  go  out  to  the  white  man  is  but  half 
free.  The  white  man  who  would  close  the  shop  or 
factory  against  a  black  man  seeking  an  opportunity  to 
earn  an  honest  living,  is  but  half  free. ' ' 

Negro  Labor. — Although  the  Negro  is  practically 
barred  from  the  great  trade  alliances  of  the  land,  and 
denied  a  place  in  the  industrial  army  which  he  would 
so  naturally  and  capably  fill,  the  race  is  slowly  edging 
into  labor  equalities  and  must,  ere  long,  be  counted  a 
factor.  The  latest  movement  serving  to  bring  Negro 
labor  to  a  permanent  stage  of  discussion  is  the  intro- 
duction of  black  labor  into  the  cotton  mills  of  the  South. 
Charleston  Cotton  Mills  have  recently  introduced  Negro 
labor  with  excellent  results.  The  Negro  hands  are 
proving  entirely  satisfactory.  It  seems  that  colored 
operators  were  employed  successfully  in  several  mills 
before  the  war,  but  since  then  the  Negro  was  denied 
an  entrance.  This  will  open  a  new  field  for  the  Negro. 
Besides  this,  all  over  the  South  colored  men  are  being 
employed  in  mechanical  pursuits,  as  carpenters,  masons, 
wheelrights,  engineers,  while  colored  women  are  em- 
ployed as  cooks,  dressmakers,  etc.  This  predicts  a 
brighter  day  for  the  colored  race,  and  if  the  race  is  true 
to  its  calling  and  exhibits  true  merit  by  rising  and 
showing  proficiency  in  all  these  lines,  the  day  is  not  far 
distant  when  Negro  labor  in  the  South  or  in  any  other 
section  of  our  country  will  be  in  as  great  demand  a? 
the  labor  of  any  other  race. 

Fears  Aroused. — The  danger  that  is  feared  by  some 
who  have  given  any  thought  to  the  Charleston  experi- 
ment is  that  the  colored  operators  will  succeed  so  well 
there  that  they  will  gradually  supplant  the  white  opera- 


268  PROGRESS   OF  A  RACE. 

tives  in  Southern  mills,  and  that  their  success  in  Charles- 
ton  will  result  in  the  establishment  of  many  Negro  cotton 
mills  in  the  South  by  New  England  capitalists.  We 
believe  that  the  Charleston  "experiment"  will  succeed 
— we  are  told  that  it  is  succeeding;  but  we  do  not 
believe  that  its  most  substantial  success  will  greatly 
interfere  with  the  labor  problem  in  the  Southern  mills. 
It  probably  would  result  in  the  establishment  of  many 
cotton  mills  in  the  black  belt  of  the  South,  but  it  would 
not,  for  years,  if  ever,  result  in  the  displacement  of 
white  labor. 

They  will  work  the  kind  of  hands  they  can  hire  at  the 
lowest  wages  and  get  good  results.  The  agitation  of 
the  Negro-in-the-cotton-mill  question  began  among  the 
Southern  mill  managers.  No  Northern  owned  and  con- 
ducted mill  has  been  mentioned  in  connection  with 
Negro  help. 

Capable. — There  is  little  reason  to  doubt  that  Negroes 
will  prove  capable  of  performing  the  work  required  of 
them  in  the  cotton  mills.  With  white  superiors  to 
direct  they  can  easily  perform  the  duties  of  mill  hands 
in  the  manufacture  of  the  coarser  goods  of  cotton 
cloth.  Negro  slaves,  it  is  alleged,  were  successfully 
employed  in  the  cotton  mills. 

Prospect. — What  a  field  is  presented  for  speculation 
as  to  the  possibilities  in  this  contrast!  What  if  the 
success  of  th£  experiment  should  give  such  an  impetus 
to  the  cotton  mill  industry  in  this  city  that  soon  not 
only  the  spindles  of  the  old  mill  would  be  humming 
night  and  day  under  the  inspiration  of  a  happy,  con- 
tented and  economic  labor,  but  other  mills  would  start 
up,  giving  hope,  ambition  and  employment  to  thousands 
more  of  our  at  present  idle  and  non-productive  surplus 
colored  population,  who  are  a  burden  upon  the  com- 


270  PROGRESS   OF  A  RACE. 

munity  instead  of  a  blessing !  Does  it  not  follow,  as  the 
night  the  day,  that  more  money  would  be  put  into  cir- 
culation; more  stores  would  be  given  patrons;  more 
business  men  and  clerks  would  be  needed,  as  well  as 
that  increase  of  forces  in  every  other  of  the  depart- 
ments of  life  preferred  by  white  men  which  necessarily 
follows  an  increase  in  the  volume  of  business  and  of  the 
productive  population  of  the  community?  The  prospect 
is  a  pleasing  one.  Let  us  hope  that  at  last  we  have 
found  the  true  philosopher's  stone,  that  with  its  magic 
touch  will  bring  about  the  renewed  prosperity  and 
business  revival  which  we  have  so  long  hoped  for  in 
vain. 

A  Business  Education. — Rev.  A.  A.  Whitman  says : 
"We  need  to  begin  in  a  business  way  right  at  the  bot- 
tom and  grow  up  from  the  ground.  We  need  to  know 
how  to  make  a  living.  That  education  which  fails  to 
fit  one  to  do  this  fails  to  educate.  He  who  has  not  the 
business  parts  and  qualifications  in  him  to  earn  a  living 
is  a  dependent — a  pauper,  as  it  were — and  undesirable 
as  a  citizen,  regardless  of  any  amount  of  useless  informa- 
tion that  may  be  found  lying  around  loose  in  his 
cranium.  The  Negro,  the  masses,  must  come  back  to 
the  ground.  Business  is  the  root  and  the  bottom  of  the 
education  he  needs  now.  The  Negro  must  be  found 
taking  a  helping  part — lending  a  helping  hand  in  the 
exercises  and  business  of  his  day ;  thus  making  himself 
needed  by  the  state.  This  is  the  root  of  the  whole 
matter. ' ' 

Tilling  the  Soil. — Man's  independence  grows  up  out 
of  the  soil.  It  is  never  a  fungus.  The  Negro  must  be 
trained  to  know  how  to  intelligently  and  successfully 
till  the  soil ;  and,  what  is  more,  he  must  learn  to  love 
the  occupation.  He  must  know  the  farm,  the  orchard 


PROGRESS   IN   INDUSTRIES. 


271 


and  the  vineyard.  He  must  see  that  his  farm  is  a  duke- 
dom. He  must  find  that  stalwart  independence  comes 
up  with  his  cotton  and  corn.  The  landscape,  beauti- 
fied and  ennobled  by  the  touch  of  care  and  endeared  by 
the  fond  and  exalted  idea  of  possession,  must  be  to  him 


PARKER    MODEL   HOME. 

Made  by  Tuskegee  Students. 

the  rallying  point  for  his  patriotism.  Cincinnatus, 
Washington,  Lincoln,  Grant,  mightiest  of  earth,  digni- 
fied their  lives  by  tilling  the  soil.  The  Negro  must 
see  this. 


£72  PROGRESS  OF  A  RACE. 

Way-Marks. — Pastures  filled  with  horses  and  cattle ; 
ample  barns  and  great  farm  houses  are  grander  way- 
marks  for  civilization  than  all  the  monuments  ever 
reared  on  the  fields  of  battle.  Back  to  this  idea  the 
Negro  must  come  and  make  a  start.  It  must  be  taught 
into  his  brains  to  see  this  truth. 

Waiting  for  Something  to  Do. — The  man  who  reads 
Greek  and  Latin  while  he  sits  in  idleness  waiting 
for  something  to  do  is  an  inferior  man ;  while  he  who 
tills  the  soil  is  a  sovereign,  though  he  knows  little  of 
books  The  Negro  must  not  be  afraid  of  the  clouds ;  he 
must  come  out  of  the  shade.  He  must  learn  that  there  is 
more  music  in  a  hand  saw  than  in  a  guitar,  and  a  great 
deal  better  pay.  He  must  feel  that  it  is  no  disgrace  to 
go  to  work  after  he  has  gone  to  school.  He  must 
understand  that  a  liberal  education  is  as  valuable  to 
him  who  tills  the  soil  as  it  is  to  the  professions. 

Skilled  Mechanics.— Next  to  tilling  the  soil,  the 
Negi*o  must  learn  the  value  of  being  skilled  in  me- 
chanics. He  must  learn  to  mingle  his  thoughts  with 
his  labor.  He  nrnst  be  taught  to  see  that  if  he  can 
chop  wood  and  earn  one  dollar  per  day,  he  may,  by 
using  saw  and  chisel,  earn  twice  that  amount  and  work 
no  harder  than  before ;  and  again  by  using  steam  and 
lathe  and  scroll  he  can  earn  ten  times  that  amount  and 
still  work  no  harder. 

Practical  Education. — This,  we  understand,  is  prac- 
tical education,  to  enlighten  the  citizen  first  concern- 
ing his  nearest  environments — earth,  air,  water,  wood, 
stone,  metal — first  become  acquainted  with  these  and 
then  come  on  with  your  theorems,  your  hypotheses, 
your  abstractions  and  such.  First  the  dinner  pot  and 
the  loom,  and  then  the  beatitudes — poetry,  painting 
and  the  like. 


PROGRESS  IN   INDUSTRIES.  £73 

Higher  Education. — After  a  moral  and  industrial 
training  those  who  have  the  talent,  the  means,  and  the 
leisure,  may  pursue  their  studies  into  the  province  of 
higher  education,  language,  literature,  the  arts  and  the 
sciences.  All  hold  out  brilliant  inducements  for  such 
as  strive  to  find  "room  at  the  top. " 

What  the  South  Especially  Needs  is  Negro  farmers 
who  study  the  best  methods  of  tilling  the  soil,  and  are 
alert  to  find  the  most  improved  method  and  best  imple- 
ments the  market  can  supply.  No  profession  is  higher 
or  more  honorable  than  that  of  farming.  A  farmer 
supports  the  people. 

Go  to  the  Farm. — As  Horace  Greeley  advised  young 
men  to  go  west,  so  we  would  advise  young  people  in 
cities  and  towns  who  cannot  find  anything  to  do,  often 
compelled  to  beg  or  to  steal  in  order  to  live,  we  would 
advise  such  to  go  to  the  farm,  for  there  they  can  make 
an  independent  living  for  themselves. 

Buy  a  Farm. — By  saving  a  little  money  a  small  farm 
at  least,  can  be  bought,  and  by  cultivating  it  carefully 
more  can  be  added  from  time  to  time. 

The  European  emigrants  come  to  this  country  and 
settle  on  homestead  lands  and  soon  become  inde- 
pendent. Why  should  not  the  Negro  do  the  same  if  he 
is  willing  to  lay  aside  extravagance  and  expensive 
habits  and  devote  himself  to  industry,  economy  and 
frugality.  There  is  no  reason  why  the  average  Negro 
should  not  have  a  home  of  his  own.  Young  men,  aim 
to  have  a  home  of  your  own. 

Sound  Advice. — A  typical  Louisa  county,  Va. ,  Negro 
tobacco  raiser  was  asked  very  lately  how  he  managed 
to  beat  all  his  neighbors  making  tobacco,  as  was  evi- 
denced by  his  having  always  led  them  in  prices  on  the 
market.  Here  is  the  secret  in  his  vernacular: 

18  Progress 


274  PROGRESS  OF  A  RACE. 

"What  I  does  make,  I  makes  de  bes*  de  Ian'  will 
fotch.  I  keeps  puttin'  back  de  manure  on  de  same  Ian'. 
I  makes  dat  manure  myself,  en  I  don't  spread  out  none 
like  some  folks  does,  who  ain't  never  satisfied  'ceptin' 
dey  allers  plants  more'n  dey  can  ten'  to.  No  matter 
how  terbarker  is  sellin'  I  gits  to  de  top  price — it's  allus 
$10  to  $12  roun'.  Noc,  sah,  I  ain't  neber  studyin* 
'bout  spreadin'  out  like  some  folks,  'case  I  dun  seen  urn 
try  dat,  an'  my  four  acres  beats  der'n  all  de  time.  Dey 
plant  more'n  double  as  much  agin  as  me — an'  more, 
too.  In  course  I  know  how  to  make  fine  sun-cured 
terbaker,  and  I  ain't  trustin'  dat  to  nobody  else,  nuther. 

"Nor,  sah,  I  ain't  nuver  grumble  'bout  de  price  yit — 
do  I  see  plenty  uv  dem  what  duz,  an'  I  ain't  never 
spec'  to  crap  more'n  dem  four  acres — sometimes  a  little 
less  dan  dat.  I  ain't  nuver  hear  nobody  complain 
'bout  my  terbaker  yit — allus  'pear  to  suit  dem  what 
buys  it,  an'  dey  want  more.  Yas,  I  got  150  akers  size 
dese  four,  but  dese  four  is  dat  rich  as  when  I  fust 
started,  and  richer,  too. ' ' 

We  wish  we  could  emphasize  this  good  advice  still 
more  strongly.  What  the  market  wants  is  quality,  not 
quantity.  This  applies  to  everything  that  the  farm  pro- 
duces. The  way  to  get  the  prices  that  are  paying  ones 
is  to  follow  the  old  "darky's  c<ivice,  to  make  the  best 
the  land  will  make,  by  heavy  and  appropriate  fertiliza- 
tion, on  only  such  an  area  of  land  as  can  be  properly 
prepared  and  carefully  and  constantly  attended  to, 
and  then  to  give  the  greatest  attention  to  the  crop,  so 
as  to  make  a  type  that  the  market  calls  for.  You  must 
please  the  market,  and  the  market  will  then  please  you. 

Advancement. — Professor  Glenn,  state  school  com- 
missioner of  Georgia,  in  an  able  address  before  the  State 
Teachers'  Association,  at  Macon,  recently  said,  in 


276  PROGRESS  of  A  RACE. 

speaking  of  the  advancement  of  the  colored  people  in 
America,  that  in  improvement  along  all  lines,  in  the 
same  length  of  time,  they  stood  without  a  peer,  either 
in  or  out  of  history.  He  spoke  of  how  they  had  reduced 
their  illiteracy  more  than  forty  per  cent  in  thirty-two 
years,  etc.  He  told  how  Georgia's  colored  citizens 
alone  had  made  returns  for  $16,000,000  worth  of  prop- 
erty, and,  said  he :  '  *  If  they  are  as  sharp  about  giving 
in  property  as  the  white  man,  and  they  may  be,  instead 
of  owning  $16,000,000,  they  really  own  in  this  state 
alone  about  $32,000,000  worth  of  property."  What  is 
true  of  Georgia  is  true  of  the  colored  people  in  all  parts 
of  the  United  States. 

Worth  of  Property. — The  colored  people  in  the 
United  States  own  today  more  than  $325,000,000  worth 
of  property.  They  have  about  27,000  school  teachers, 
more  than  1,000  lawyers,  and  nearly  2,000  physicians 
that  have  graduated  from  some  of  the  best  schools  in 
this  and  other  countries.  They  have  3,068,822  mem- 
bers of  the  church,  scattered  among  the  various  denomi- 
nations, including  the  Catholic  church.  These  are  led 
by  thousands  of  able  and  well-educated  ministers, 
including  about  twenty  or  twenty-five  bishops.  About 
5,000,000  of  the  people  can  read.  These,  I  think,  are 
worthy  achievements  for  the  colored  people  during  one 
generation,  when  we  remember  that  they  started  empty- 
handed,  empty-headed  and  with  empty  pockets. 

Looking  Upward, — Of  course  we  have  had  our  trials, 
tribulations  and  hindrances,  and  our  many  drawbacks. 
These  have  come  from  all  directions — from  within  as 
well  as  from  without — but  by  God's  help,  and  with  the 
steady  efforts  of  a  few  we  find  ourselves  today  far  up 
the  hill  toward  the  city  of  success. 

A  Changed  Man. — The  time  was  when,  if  you  should 


PROGRESS   IN  INDUSTRIES.  277 

meet  a  colored  man  on  the  streets,  you  could  soon 
place  him,  so  far  as  his  business  and  intellectual 
capacity  was  concerned,  without  asking  a  single  ques- 
tion. But  that  is  by  no  means  the  case  to-day.  When 
you  pass  down  the  street  to-day  and  meet  a  colored  man, 
he  may  be  a  wealthy  merchant,  a  retired  business  man 
with  his  thousands  of  dollars ;  he  may  be  a  prosperous 
farmer  owning  his  plantation,  horses,  mules  and  cattle ; 
he  may  be  a  banker,  a  bishop,  an  educated  minister  of 
the  gospel,  with  all  the  degrees  that  belong  to  that 
high  calling ;  he  may  be  principal  of  a  city  school,  pro- 
fessor of  Greek,  Latin,  Hebrew,  German,  French, 
mathematics,  or  science,  in  some  college,  or  he  may  be 
president  of  some  great  university  or  president  of  a 
young  republic  in  some  part  of  the  world ;  he  may  be  a 
lawyer,  dentist,  physician,  pharmacist,  or  a  telegraph 
operator ;  he  may  be  a  man  such  as  I  have  named  here 
— a  man  that  is  both  an  honor  and  a  help  to  his  city, 
country  and  state. 

At  Progressive  Door. — This  is  the  colored  man  that 
is  standing  at  the  progressive  door  of  American  civiliza- 
tion today  and  asks  for  a  man-'s  chance — for  an  Amer- 
ican citizen's  chance  in  the  race  of  life — this  is  the 
colored  man  that  asks  for,  and  should  have,  a  first-class 
railroad  ride  for  a  first-class  railroad  ticket.  I  hope 
Christian  civilization,  right  and  justice  will  soon  per- 
meate the  hearts  of  all  the  American  people  to  the 
extent  that  they  may  see  the  ten  millions  of  colored 
American  citizens  as  they  really  are  today  and  not  as 
tkey  were  a  generation  ago. 

Atlanta's  Colored  Representatives.  —  Dr.  Butler 
says:  " Atlanta  has  two  oil  dealers,  one  laundry, 
several  good  coal  and  wood  yards,  seven  or  eight 
tailoring  establishments,  one  creamery,  one  real  estate 


278  PROGRESS   OF   A   RACE. 

dealer,  one  insurance  agent,  four  undertakers,  one 
hotel,  and  restaurants  and  ice-cream  saloons  in- 
numerable. We  have  a  large  number  of  grocery 
stores,  well  stocked  and  well  patronized.  It  is  impos- 
sible for  me  to  call  to  mind  all  of  our  contractors, 
blacksmiths,  carpenters,  brick  -  masons,  and  stone- 
masons. We  have  several  owners  of  hack  lines.  We 
have  a  large  number  of  railway  mail  "clerks  and  letter- 
carriers.  We  have  one  clerk  in  a  white  jewelry  store. 
He  is  well  thought  of  by  everybody  and  draws  a  large 
trade  to  that  firm  from  his  people.  This  is  a  good 
example  for  others  to  follow.  We  have  one  first-class 
artist  who  has  been  working  for  one  white  firm  for 
more  than  fifteen  years.  We  have  one  sewing-machine 
representative,  one  plumber  who  has  passed  the  re- 
quired examination  and  received  his  license ;  we  have 
two  cleaning  and  dyeing  establishments ;  we  have  five 
public  schools,  with  forty  teachers;  we  have  six  col- 
leges and  seminaries,  in  which  are  many  colored  pro- 
fessors; we  have  four  well-stocked  and  well-equipped 
drug  stores,  several  pharmacists,  seven  physicians  and 
two  dentists.  Besides,  there  are  many  dressmakers, 
milliners,  slaters,  tinners,  and  hundreds  of  other  good 
professional  businesses  that  I  have  not  the  time  to 
mention.  These  are  the  accomplishment  of  a  colored 
population  of  about  forty  thousand.  I  came  near  for- 
getting our  three  lawyers,  who  are  doing  a  good  prac- 
tice. We  also  have  a  Young  Men's  Christian  Associa- 
tion in  the  city  and  one  in  each  of  our  colleges ;  we 
have  eight  organizations  of  the  Woman's  Christian 
Temperance  Union,  all  doing  much  good  work.  We 
also  have  the  Atlanta  Woman's  Club,  of  colored  women, 
one  of  the  best  and  most  active  of  its  kind  in  the 
country.  We  have  the  United  Friendly  Society,  an 


280  PROGRESS  OF  A  RACE. 

organization  that  is  doing  much  good  work  among  our 
people,  and  our  women  have  an  industrial  club  which 
is  turning  in  an  excellent  profit  to  its  members.  This 
is  only  a  bird's-eye  view  of  what  our  people  are  doing. 
In  conclusion,  I  would  say,  that  Atlanta  is  the  home  of 
the  following  newspapers:  The  Southern  Age,  The 
Voice  of  Mission,  The  Gospel  Trumpet,  The  Southern 
Christian  Recorder,  The  Social  Gleaner,  and  The  Paris 
Visitor.  I  refer  to  these  things  to  show  our  friends 
that  we  are  up  and  doing  for  ourselves,  our  children, 
and  our  country. 

*  Forest  Home'  is  the  name  of  D.  T.  Howard's 
country  home,  eight  miles  from  Atlanta,  on  the  Peach- 
tree  road.  It  is  indeed  a  beautiful  place,  with  groves, 
lakes,  and  fruit  trees  of  all  kinds.  There  are  five 
springs  on  the  property,  and  one  of  them  is  very  val- 
uable. The  lakes  have  been  stocked  with  fish.  He  has 
ordered  5,000  more  fish  from  Washington,  D.  C.,  to 
place  in  his  lakes.  He  also  has  a  number  of  fine  Jersey 
cattle  and  many  fine  fowls  out  there.  D.  T.  Howard 
has  quite  an  interesting  family,  and  all  of  them  take 
a  special  interest  in  their  country  home.  This  is  what 
I  have  often  advised  my  people  to  do — get  homes  in  the 
country  and  raise  country  produce  and  furnish  this  and 
other  markets.  The  money  we  spend  for  a  small 
25x100  foot  lot  here  in  the  city,  or  any  city,  for  that  mat- 
ter, would  buy  from  ten  to  fifty  acres  of  good  land  in  the 
country.  Talking  about  gold  and  silver,  there  is  plenty 
of  it  out  in  the  country,  under  the  soil — all  we  have  to  do 
is  to  dig  for  it.  It  is  there  for  the  truck  farmer;  it  is 
there  for  the  florist ;  and  it  is  there  for  the  scientific 
farmer;  and  our  people  can  do  all  of  these  things  if 
they  will  only  apply  themselves. ' ' 

Items  of  Interest,— The  city  government  of  Phila- 


PROGRESS  IN  INDUSTRIES.  281 

delphia  employs  nearly  1,000  colored  men.  In  the 
bureau  of  health  is  David  Brown,  the  oldest  employe 
in  the  service  of  the  city.  He  was  appointed  in  1837, 
and  has  held  the  position  ever  since.  These  men 
receive  salaries  ranging  from  $800  to  $1,000  and  more. 
There  are  sixty-one  in  the  police  department,  one  in 
the  fire  department,  and  several  clerks,  among  whom 
is  James  F.  Needham,  a  clerk  in  the  tax  office.  He  has 
held  the  position  twenty-five  years  at  a  salary  of  $1,500. 
The  inspector  of  gas  meters  is  a  colored  man.  C.  J. 
Perry,  the  colored  councilman,  is  a  clerk  in  the  sheriff's 
office.  He  is  also  editor  of  the  Philadelphia  Tribune. 
This  is  another  proof  of  how  the  colored  people  are 
laboring  for  the  welfare  of  their  country  and  for  the 
honor  of  themselves,  by  faithfully  discharging  every 
duty  placed  upon  them. 

The  largest  silkworm  grower  in  the  South  is  a  col- 
ored man,  S.  R.  Lowry,  near  Huntsville,  Ala.  He 
took  a  premium  at  the  New  Orleans  exposition  over 
several  foreign  competitors  from  China,  France,  Japan 
and  Italy.  Mr.  Lowry  is  of  the  opinion  that  the  cul- 
ture of  silk  in  the  South  will  supersede  that  of  cotton. 

Wiley  Jones,  of  Pine  Bluff,  Arkansas. ,  is  one  of  the 
wealthiest  colored  men  in  his  state,  and  is  said  to  be 
the  largest  blooded-stock  breeder  of  his  race.  Besides 
his  herds  of  Durham  and  Holstein  cattle,  he  has  a  stable 
of  trotting  horses  valued  at  $50,000. 

Granville  T.  Woods,  the  electrician,  mechanical 
engineer,  manufacturer  of  telephone,  telegraph  and 
electrical  instruments,  was  once  a  day  laborer  in  Spring- 
field, 111. 

There  are  more  than  fifty  Negro  establishments  in 
Atlanta,  Ga.,  representing  $100,000  invested  in  busi- 
ness, giving  employment  to  not  less  than  one  hun- 


PROGRESS   OF  A   RACE. 

dred  persons  of  the  race,  and  affording  them  an  oppor- 
tunity to  acquire  a  thorough  knowledge  of  business. 

Mr.  John  W.  Wilson  is  the  leading  colored  clothier  of 
Baltimore,  Maryland.  He  has  a  good  trade,  and  keeps 
on  hand  a  full  supply  of  the  latest  goods. 

Mr.  Madison  Short  is  one  of  the  most  prominent 
farmers  of  Surry  county,  Virginia.  He  owns  a  beauti- 
ful farm  and  has  some  of  the  finest  horses  in  the  state. 

There  are  over  2,000  colored  people  employed  in  the 
executive  departments  of  the  government  at  Washing- 
ton. 

The  increase  of  colored  population  in  the  last  decade 
is  greater  in  Arkansas  than  that  of  any  other  state. 

Thirty- five  Afro- Americans  are  employed  on  the 
police  force  in  Pittsburg,  Pa. 

Mrs.  Alpha  V.  Miner,  of  Kansas  City,  Missouri,  has 
the  reputation  of  being  one  of  the  most  successful  busi- 
ness women  of  her  race  in  the  west.  She  is  quoted  at 
$10,000  and  free  from  debt.  She  commenced  business 
several  years  ago  as  a  dressmaker.  She  now  has  a 
dozen  or  more  employes. 

Gilchrist  Stewart,  the  great  colored  creamery  man, 
and  dairy  scientist  of  Wisconsin,  has  just  been  chosen 
dairy  editor  of  the  Dakota  Field  and  Farm,  and 
elected  one  of  the  editorial  contributors  for  the  coming 
year  of  the  Wisconsin  "Agriculturist,"  one  of  the  lead- 
ing agricultural  papers  in  the  country.  Mr.  Stewart 
is  a  graduate  of  Tuskegee  and  of  the  Wisconsin  Dairy 
school.  He  is  rapidly  achieving  fame  and  prominence 
in  the  agricultural  and  dairy  worlds.  He  is  yet  a  very 
young  man  and  the  son  of  T.  McCants  Stewart  of 
New  York. 

H.  D.  Smith  is  the  wealthiest  colored  man  of  Greens- 
ville  county,  Virginia.  He  owns  a  valuable  farm. 


PROGRESS   IN   INDUSTRIES.  283 

At  one  time  he  represented  his  people  in  the  state  leg- 
islature. 

Mr.  D.  Rowen,  a  merchant  of  Texas,  after  having 
passed  through  varied  scenes  and  hardships,  finds  him- 
self a  prosperous  merchant  of  Dallas.  He  paid  taxes 
on  real  estate  in  1896  valued  at  $41,000.  Mr.  Rowen 
has  shown  what  can  be  done  by  a  poor  boy  who  is 
determined  to  let  the  world  know  that  he  is  living  in  it. 

A  colored  planter  now  owns  one  of  Jefferson  Davis' 
old  plantations  in  Mississippi. 

John  T.  Schell,  one  of  Atlanta's  progressive  and 
assiduous  business  men,  has  met  with  success  by  facing 
adversity.  Through  poverty  he  has  pushed  his  way, 
working  [wherever  he  was  able  to  find  employment. 
Upon  reaching  Atlanta  he  could  find  no  work,  but  at 
last  succeeded  in  obtaining  employment  that  hardly 
paid  his  expenses,  but,  continuing  this  work,  he  was 
soon  offered  a  better  position.  At  last  he  succeeded  in 
gathering  enough  cash  to  open  a  small  grocery  store, 
with  shoe  shop  attached.  From  this  time  forth  success 
seemed  to  attend  him,  until  he  is  to-day  one  of  the 
wealthiest  citizens  of  that  city.  A  cultured  and 
amiable  wife  presides  over  his  comfortable  and  beauti- 
ful home,  in  which  four  happy  children  mingle  their 
glad  voices.  Besides  a  vast  amount  of  real  estate,  he 
owns  a  well-stocked  dry-goods  establishment.  His 
residence  is,  beyond  doubt,  the  largest  and  handsomest 
and  most  complete  residence  of  any  colored  man  in 
the  state.  Such  houses  as  these  are  the  monuments 
the  thoughtful  men  and  women  of  the  race  are  erecting 
for  their  children.  'They  are  accumulating  property 
and  improving  themselves  along  all  lines. 

W.  H.  Councill  was  born  in  Fayetteville,  N.  C.,  in 
1848.     When  nine  years  old  he  was  carried  by  slave- 


284 


PROGRESS   OF    A    RACE. 


traders  to  Alabama,  where  he  worked  in  the  cotton 
fields  until  set  free  as  a  result  of  the  Civil  war.  He 
attended  one  of  the  first  schools  opened  by  Northern 
teachers  at  Stevenson,  Ala.,  in  1865. 


PROF.  W.   H.  COUNCILL,  PH.  D. 

He  was  founder,  and  editor  of  the  Huntsville  Herald 
from  1877  to  1884.  He  is  now  president  of  the  Agri- 
cultural and  Mechanical  College,  Normal,  Ala.,  which 
he  organized  a  quarter  of  a  century  ago. 

He  is  an  active  church-worker  and  a  temperance 


PROGRESS   IN    INDUSTRIES. 


285 


At  his  Normal  school  he  is  educating  native  Africans 
as  missionaries  to  the  "Dark  Continent." 

C.  H.  Jackson  is  a  very  successful  grocery  and  dry 
goods  merchant  in  Nashville,  Tennessee. 

Hon.  Henry  A.  Rucker  has  been  appointed  collector  of 
internal  revenue  for  the  state  of  Georgia.  Mr.  Rucker 


HON.  H.  A.  RUCKER,  ATLANTA,  GEORGIA. 

is  comparatively  a  young  man,  and  his  appointment 
gives  the  greatest  satisfaction  to  his  friends.  He  is 
one  of  the  ablest  men  in  the  state  and  has  the  full  con- 
fidence of  all  who  know  him.  He  has  had  considerable 


286  PROGRESS   OF  A   RACE. 

experience  as  a  revenue  official  and  will  make  a  most 
efficient  collector. 

Henry  Allan  Rucker  was  born  in  Washington,  Wilkes 
county,  Georgia,  November  14,  1852.  Three  months 
after  his  birth  his  parents  moved  to  Kensington, 
Georgia,  residing  there  for  five  or  six  years,  and  from 
there  to  Atlanta,  Savannah,  Macon,  and  back  to  Atlanta 
in  1866,  where  he  has  ever  since  lived.  Soon  after 
returning  to  Atlanta  he  entered  a  school  which  was 
opened  in  the  A.  M.  E.  Church  on  Jenkins  street  by 
Northern  teachers.  This  school  was  afterwards  moved 
to  a  car  box  near  what  was  then  the  famous  Walton 
springs,  and  again  into  the  building  on  Houston  street, 
which,  ever  since  its  establishment,  has  been  known  as 
Storrs'  school.  On  account  of  the  inability  of  his 
.parents  to  maintain  him  in  a  day  school,  he  had  to  seek 
employment  and  attend  school  by  night,  and  finally 
was  compelled  to  lay  aside  his  books,  which  he  had  no 
opportunity  of  taking  up  again,  until,  by  steady  appli- 
cation to  whatever  he  could  get  to  do,  and  by  strict 
frugality,  he  was  again  able  to  take  them  up  in  Atlanta 
University  in  1876.  By  teaching  country  schools  dur- 
ing the  summer  months  and  by  economizing,  he  kept 
himself  in  this  school  until  1880,  leaving  off  after  finish- 
ing his  sophomore  year  to  take  up  the  study  of  homeop- 
athy, which  he  pursued  for  one  year.  During  this  year 
he  also  entered  national  politics  and  made  a  successful 
race  as  a  Elaine  delegate  to  the  national  convention 
which  met  in  Chicago,  Illinois,  in  1881.  He  was  given  an 
appointment  as  storekeeper  and  gauger  in  the  Internal 
Revenue  Service  in  Georgia.  In  1883  he  was  promoted 
to  a  clerkship  in  the  office  of ,  the  collector,  where  he 
remained  until  shortly  after  the  inauguration  of  Prise- 
dent  Cleveland,  when  a  new  collector  was  appointed. 


PROGRESS    IN    INDUSTRIES.  28? 

This  Democratic  collector,  on  assuming  charge  of  the 
office,  asked  Mr.  Rucker,  "How  long  have  you  been  in 
the  service?"  On  being  told  about  four  years,  he 
simply  said,  '  *  You  have  been  in  long  enough. ' '  Four 
years  later,  on  the  inauguration  of  President  Harrison, 
Mr.  Rucker  appeared  before  Secretary  Windom,  and, 
in  his  speech  urging  a  change  in  the  Collector's  office 
of  Georgia,  repeated  this  little  circumstance  and  wound 
up  by  saying,  "Now,  Mr.  Secretary,  this  Democratic 
collector  has  been  in  a  little  over  four  years,  and  I, 
with  other  Republicans  of  Georgia,  believe  he  has  been 
in  long  enough  to  be  removed  without  delay. ' '  At  this 
the  Secretary  smiled  and  said:  "While  this  is  not 
poetic  language,  it  is  politic,  and  I'll  see  that  the 
change  is  made."  In  1880,  Mr.  Rucker  met  Major 
McKinley  at  Salt  Springs,  Georgia,  where,  while  shak- 
ing hands  with  the  major  after  his  Chautauqtia  address, 
he  said,  '  *  Major,  I  hope  I  may  have  the  pleasure  of  shak- 
ing your  hand  when  you  are  president  of  the  United 
States."  In  1890,  in  September,  large  mass  meetings 
of  a  non-partisan  character  were  being  held  in  Atlanta 
to  nominate  a  reform  city  ticket,  as  municipal  officers 
were  getting  in  a  confused  condition  and  taxation  was 
exorbitant  and  the  city's  credit  was  suffering.  These 
mass  meetings  resulted  in  a  city  convention,  where 
Mr.  Rucker  made  the  platform  the  reduction  of  taxa- 
tion from  one  and  one-half  per  cent  to  one  and  one- 
third  per  cent,  and  since  that  time  this  measure  of 
reduced  taxation  has  become  a  law  and  the  burdens  of 
the  people  relieved  and  the  city's  credit  raised.  Dur- 
ing the  same  year  Mr.  Rucker  was  called  back  to  an 
important  position  in  the  Internal  Revenue  Service, 
discharging  his  duties  honorably  until  he  was  again 
released  in  consequence  of  the  fortunes  of  politics  by 


288  PROGRESS   OF   A   RACE. 

another  Democratic  collector.  In  1895,  Mr.  Rucker 
again  met  Major  McKinley  in  Atlanta.  The  Major 
was  holding-  a  reception  at  the  time,  and  as  one  man 
after  another  was  introduced  to  the  Major,  one  of  them 
holding- his  hand,  inquired,  "Are  you  Governor  McKin- 
ley of  Ohio?"  and  on  being  modestly  informed  that  he 
was  said,  "Well,  Governor,  you  want  to  be  president, 
and  I  want  to  tell  you  that  Georgia  is  against  you. ' ' 
Mr.  Rucker,  who  was  standing  on  the  right  of  the  Gov- 
ernor, spoke  up  at  once  and  said,  "Governor,  pay  no 
attention  to  that  fellow,  you  shall  have  Georgia." 
He  was  himself  elected  one  of  the  delegates  to  the  St. 
Louis  convention,  and  introduced  a  resolution  condemn- 
ing lynching  and  mob  violence,  which  became  a  plank 
in  the  Republican  platform  upon  which  President 
McKinley  was  elected.  After  the  inauguration  of 
President  McKinley,  Mr.  Rucker  was  appointed  Col- 
lector of  Internal  Revenue  for  the  District  of  Georgia, 
and  on  the  eve  of  the  5th  day  of  August,  1897,  had  the 
pleasure  of  succeeding  the  man  who,  four  years  before, 
had  relieved  him  from  clerkship  in  the  same  office. 

In  1889,  Mr.  Rucker  was  joined  in  marriage  to  Miss 
Annie,  the  younger  daughter  of  Hon.  Jefferson  Long, 
the  only  colored  man  to  represent  a  Georgia  district  in 
the  United  States  Congress.  To  them  four  children 
have  been  born.  Mr.  Rucker  is  sober,  honest  and 
intelligent,  enjoying  the  respect  and  confidence  of  the 
best  people  among  whom  he  lives,  as  well  as  that  of 
many  of  the  leading  men  of  the  country.  When  asked 
to  what  he  attributed  his  success,  he  emphatically  says : 
"To  the  faithful,  patient  training  and  earnest  prayers 
of  a  devout  Christian  mother. ' ' 

The  following  is  taken  from  the  Atlanta  Constitution, 
and  may  suggest  to  some  young  men  the  advantage  to. 


PROGRESS  IN  INDUSTRIES.  289 

be  gained  in  not  hurrying  from  the  country  to  the  city. 
What  these  men  have  done  can  be  done  again  by  others, 
if  industry,  economy  and  good  management  are  not 
wanting. 

Bartow  F.  Powell  was  born  a  Negro  in  Bainbridge, 
Georgia,  under  all  the  weight  which  must  ever  depress 
a  black  race  living  in  the  midst  of  a  dominant  and  all- 
conquering  white.  Worse  than  that,  there  was  added 
to  the  natural  disqualification  of  skin  the  stigma  of 
recent  slavery,  with  the  jealousy,  as  yet  unabated,  of 
those  who  have  been  deprived  of  their  ownership. 
A  more  unpropitious  beginning  is  beyond  conception, 
and,  before  the  record  which  this  man  has  achieved,  is 
there  a  man  in  Georgia  who  will  idly  fold  his  hands 
and  say  that  there  is  no  room  for  him  in  the  band 
wagon  of  progress? 

"Born  in  Bainbridge  thirty-two  years  ago,  Bartow  F. 
Powell  ran  the  gauntlet  through  which  all  the  boys  of 
his  race  have  to  go,  but  he  had  one  quality  not  com- 
mon to  all — and  that  was  that  a  dime  once  reaching  his 
pocket  stayed  there.  This  qualification  and  the  thorough- 
ness of  his  service  secured  for  him  constant  employ- 
ment. Drifting  from  stores  about  town  into  the  gov- 
ernment service  in  the  dredge  boats  clearing  out  the 
Flint  river,  his  resources  increased,  and  with  the  inter- 
est savings  on  money  already  acquired,  he  found  him- 
self at  the  age  of  twenty  the  owner  of  $2,000,  $100  for 
each  year  of  his  life.  That,  as  stated,  was  twelve  years 
ago,  and  the  event  was  celebrated  by  a  trip  to  Albany, 
where  a  white  landowner  was  committing  the  usual 
mistake  of  parting  with  five  hundred  acres  of  Baker 
county  pine  land.  The  white  man  got  the  $2,000, 
which  has  most  likely  taken  wings' long  ago,  whilst  the 
Negro  got  the  five  hundred  acres,  which  are  to-day- 
worth  three  times  the  monoyv 

19  Progrwi 


BARTOW     F.     POWELL. 


290 


PROGRESS   IN    INDUSTRIES.  291 

11  '.  hired  ten  men,'  describing  his  first  year's  work, 
'for  the  year  round,  paying  them  $8  a  month  and 
board,  and  put  eight  mules  to  work.  It  was  during 
Christinas  week  that  I  bought  the  land,  so  I  started  in 
with  my  force  on  the  first  day  of  January,  because  they 
say  whatever  you  do  that  day  you  will  do  the  year 
round.  It  proved  to  be  so  in  my  case,  for  it  was  not 
until  the  Christmas  week  of  the  next  year  that  I  saw  a 
day  off.  We  started  clearing  and  tearing  up  in  Janu- 
ary, and  reached  planting  by  March,  which  took  up  two 
months.  We  then  cultivated  the  crop  regularly  till 
August  ist,  after  which,  gathering  and  ginning  and 
marketing  took  up  our  time. 

"  'When  I  had  sold  my  cotton,  corn  and  sugar  cane  I 
had  $2,500.  Besides  that  I  had  raised  hogs  and  made 
provender,  potatoes  and  peas  sufficient  to  offset  the  run- 
ning expenses  of  the  farm.  I  found  that  the  best  way 
to  succeed  is  to  hire  men  by  the  month,  paying  them 
regular  wages,  and  planning  ahead  for  the  work  that 
they  must  do  the  year  round.  You  can  command  their 
work  better. 

<l  'Well,  I  just  kept  on  the  next  three  years,  not 
doing  so  well  the  second  year.  The  fifth  year  I  bought 
a  second  farm  of  three  hundred  acres  in  the  oaky 
woods,  for  which  I  paid  $3,  ooo  cash,  and  the  next  year 
1  added  a  five  hundred  and  sixty  acre  place  in  the  ninth 
district  of  Baker  for  $2,500  cash.  I  ran  along  two  years 
more  this  way,  when  I  had  some  more  money  to  spare, 
when  I  took  in  another  oaky  woods  farm  of  four  hundred 
and  forty  acres  for  $3,200  cash.  My  land,  for  which  I 
gave  §10  an  acre,  has  paid  me  fully  twenty  per  cent,  in 
cotton  returns,  not  to  speak  of  my  gains  from  other 
sources.  While  I  have  been  saving  all  this  money  and 
buying  land,  I  have  freely  stocked  all  my  places  out  of 


292  PROGRESS   OF  A  RACE. 

the  proceeds  which  I  do  not  count  I  have  now  2,100 
acres  of  land,  a  town  house  and  lot,  forty-four  head  of 
horses  and  mules,  one  hundred  Jersey  and  scrub  cows, 
one  hundred  and  fifty  head  of  improved  hogs,  besides 
wagons,  buggies,  plows  and  all  kinds  of  machines  used 
on  a  big  farm.  I  now  run  a  public  gin  on  my  home 
place,  as  well  as  a  grist  mill. 

* ' 4  If  I  were  to  sell  my  land  I  could  not  make  as  good 
use  of  the  money  as  I  can  of  my  land.  You  see  you 
are  always  getting  principal  as  well  as  interest  back 
from  your  land,  and  after  you  get  it  all  back  the  land 
still  remains  more  valuble  than  it  was  at  first.  In 
money  you  can  only  get  the  interest,  and  principal  is 
al  v  Tays  likely  to  disappear.  Every  other  kind  of  prop- 
erty wears  away,  but  constant  use  improves  land. 
There  is  no  such  thing  as  wearing  out  land — it  must  be 
kept  at  work,  but  rested  by  different  crops.  It  is  like 
resting  from  walking  by  running  a  little,  but  never  sit 
down,  because  if  you  do  you  are  sure  to  be  left 
behind.'  ' 

Mr.  Powell  generally  sells  his  cotton  at  the  beginning 
of  the  market  season.  Concerning  the  raising  of  cot- 
ton, Mr.  Powell  says: 

"There's  money  in  cotton  all  the  time,  said  Powell, 
only  don't  be  paying  this  money  for  other  things  you 
can  raise  at  home.  Five  cents  pays  well  and  seven 
cents  is  bushels.  I  can  always  make  the  difference  good 
by  living  at  home. ' ' 

Powell  is  not  the  only  man  of  his  race  who  has  made 
what  is  called  "big"  money.  As  he  is  a  mulatto,  inher- 
iting, as  will  be  seen  from  his  picture,  the  phrenologi- 
cal cast  of  the  Caucasian,  it  may  be  argued  that  his 
sticcess  springs  from  that  strain. 

Mr.  Billingslea  is  as  black  and  full-blooded  a  Negro 


PROGRESS  IN  INDUSTRIES.  293 

as  ever  disported  himself  in  the  jungles  of  Africa,  with 
a  greasy  coal  face,  great  lips,  which,  when  parted,  dis- 
play almost  wealth  enough  of  ivory  for  an  elephant. 
He  has  come  right  out  of  slavery  itself,  and  is  now  the 
owner  of  two  thousand  acres  of  land,  from  which  he 
markets  four  hundred  bales  of  cotton  annually.  Besides 
his  success  on  the  farm,  he  has  developed  the  country 
supply  store  idea,  and  thus  rakes  in  thousands  of  dol- 
lars a  year. 

Deal  Jackson  is  another  typical  **before  the  war" 
Negro,  who  owns  six  hundred  acres  of  land  worth 
$10,000,  and  who  has  money  to  loan  at  all  times. 

Joe  Jeffis,  still  another  full-blooded  African,  living 
on  the  east  side  of  the  river,  owns  1,500  acres  of 
superb  land,  out  of  which  he  makes  equally  good  returns 
with  those  already  mentioned. 

No  white  man  should  be  afraid  to  do  as  well  as  these 
men  have  done,  and  here  is  their  greatest  possibility ; 
the  ownership  of  property  makes  good  citizens  of  the 
Negroes.  The  influence  of  these  men  is  great  with 
members  of  their  race. 

And  they,  in  turn,  help  to  preserve  the  good  rela- 
tionship between  the  races,  which  has  removed  all  the 
rancor  of  former  times.  We  always  work  together  and 
for  the  common  good.  You  can  go  to  these  men  at  any 
time  and  rrrake  suggestions  as  to  proper  lines  upon 
which  to  work,  and  they  have  the  good  sense  to  comply, 
so  that  racial  troubles  never  occur.  Whenever  you 
hear  of  such  trouble  it  is  between  a  no-account  white 
man  and  a  mean  Negro,  and  we  are  then  just  as  certain 
to  get  rid  of  the  one  as  the  other.  These  men  com- 
mand the  highest  credit  in  our  banks  and  commercial 
houses. 

Altogether  these  incidents  furnish  one  of  the  best 


294  PROGRESS   OF  A  RACE. 

lessons  as  to  the  possibilities  of  the  South,  and  now  we 
are  talking,  not  in  the  interest  of  Northern  immigrants, 
but  of  our  own  Southern  boys.  Go  to  the  commercial 
college  in  our  big  cities ;  go  to  the  stenographic  schools ; 
go  to  the  dry  goods  and  other  business  houses,  and  see 
the  hundreds  and  thousands  of  bright  young  men 
stunting  their  youth  in  the  fever  of  exertion  for  callings 
which  will  not  bring  them  a  livelihood  in  their  maturi- 
ty, but  out  of  which  they  will  be  crowded  by  a  fresh 
influx  of  boys.  While  these  young  men  have  turned 
their  backs  upon  the  old  homes,  their  patrimony  is 
being  taken  possession  of  by  strangers,  who  are  making 
the  waste  spots  bloom  in  luxuriance.  In  the  days  to 
come,  when  these  young  men  will  have  grown  older, 
they  will  seek  a  season's  vacation,  called  up  by  a  bub- 
bling of  the  old  home  feeling,  and  going  there  the  very 
face  of  nature  will  have  changed,  but  the  greatest 
change,  the  one  most  cutting  and  heart-rending,  will 
be  to  see  the  face  of  the  stranger  peering  out  of  the  old 
window,  and  the  hand  of  the  stranger  holding,  not  ajar, 
but  firmly  closed,  the  gate  which  once  led  to  home, 
with  its  smiles  and  tears  which  are  now  recalled  through 
the  vista  of  time  and  adversity. 

Look  upon  these  broad  and  smiling  acres,  young 
men  of  the  South.  There  is  more  wealth  concealed 
beneath  their  carpeted  green  than  all  the  eldorados 
ever  afforded;  there  is  more  joy  and  comfort  cluster- 
ing around  that  old  house;  there  is  more  of  heart  in 
the  handclasp,  the  more  of  Heaven  in  the  prospect  than 
ever  city,  with  its  promises  fulfilled,  has  been  able  to 
give  you. 

Go  to  the  country,  young  man,  go ! 

Cotton  States,  Industrial  Exposition,  1895.— The 
Negro  building  of  this  exposition  was  erected  by  Negro 


PROGRESS   IN  INDUSTRIES.  295 

hands  and  supervised  by  Negro  skill  and  brain.  Much 
of  the  success  which  was  realized  is  due  to  the  chief 
commissioner,  Professor  Crogman,  who  traveled 
throughout  the  Southern  states  in  the  interest  of  the 
Negro  building.  Those  who  are  able  to  judge  assure 
us  that  this  exhibit  was  by  far  the  best  yet  made  by  the 
Negro  race.  The  educational,  business  and  industrial 
development  of  the  race  during  thirty  years  of  emanci- 
pation was  shown  here  in  practical  form.  It  was  in  all 
respects  a  success. 

The  commissioner  of  education  says  of  the  exhibit: 
"The  very  creditable  exhibit  made  at  the  Atlanta  expo- 
si  tition  in  1895  by  the  more  progressive  element  among 
the  Negroes  aroused  new  interest  in  all  parts  of  the 
.country  in  their  educational  advancement."  There 
arose  a  very  general  demand  for  information  on  the 
subject,  and  this  resulted  in  a  special  effort  on  the  part 
of  the  Educational  Bureau  to  furnish  more  extended 
information  and  statistics  than  ever  before  given. 
Thus  the  Atlanta  Negro  exhibit  was  an  occasion  for  bet- 
ter information  on  the  sub j  ect.  The  commissioners  who 
labored  so  faithfully  to  make  that  exhibit  a  success,  it 
is  safe  to  say,  had  hardly  hoped  to  make  their  influence 
and  work  felt  throughout  the  nation,  and  yet  this 
was  the  case. 

The  Negro  Exhibit  at  Nashville,  1897,— The  one 
hundredth  anniversary  of  Tennessee  as  a  state  was  cele- 
brated by  the  Centennial  exposition  at  Nashville,  from 
the  first  day  of  May  until  the  last  day  of  October,  1897. 
This  occasioned  for  the  Negro  in  particular  an  oppor- 
tunity to  demonstrate  to  the  world  his  capabilities  in 
everything  that  appertains  to  development  of  the 
mental,  moral  and  physical  powers.  To  the  Negro  this 
opportunity  meant  a  reward  of  patient  industry  and 


296  PROGRESS  OF  A  RACE. 

honesty.  The  Centennial  exposition  in  general  was  a 
great  credit  to  the  state.  The  Negro  building  in  par- 
ticular attracted  the  attention  of  visitors.  The  people 
of  Tennessee  generously  erected,  at  a  cost  of  twelve 
thousand  dollars,  a  handsome  and  imposing  building, 
known  as  the  "Negro  building."  It  was  three  hundred 
feet  long  by  one  hundred  feet  wide,  and  the  architec- 
tural plans  were  not  surpassed  by  any  other  building  on 
the  grounds.  All  the  lines  of  progress  were  here 
noted,  but,  as  it  is  along  educational  lines  that  the 
Negro  race  has  made  its  greatest  progress,  the  exhibit 
of  schools  devoted  to  Negro  education  necessarily 
occupied  much  space.  Although  the  time  since  emanci- 
pation has  been  only  a  little  more  than  that  devoted  to 
the  eduation  of  a  single  generation,  the  race  has  made 
considerable  progress  in  the  arts,  sciences,  trades  and 
professions,  commerce,  agriculture,  and  all  other  call- 
ings of  the  world,  as  a  people,  making  creditable  show- 
ings in  these  lines.  The  display  of  talent  in  art  by  the 
Negro  surprised  and  delighted  the  visitors  to  the 
Atlanta  exposition.  At  Nashville,  this  department  sur- 
passed every  other  exhibit  of  the  work  of  Negro  artists 
yet  given.  Miss  E.  Lewis,  a  talented  young  lady  of 
Tennessee,  who  is  now  studying  in  Europe,  forwarded 
some  of  her  best  paintings  to  the  exposition.  Mr. 
Tanner,  whose  work  recently  received  favorable  atten- 
tion at  Paris,  also  sent  some  of  his  pictures.  Portraits 
of  famous  men  and  women  adorned  the  walls.  On  the 
whole,  the  Negro  building  at  the  Tennessee  exposition 
was  a  decided  success,  and  the  works  therein  contained 
have  proved  that  the.  Negroes,  as  a  race,,  have  made 
more  progress  in  civilization  since  their  emancipation 
than  any  other  race  similarly  situated  has  in  the  same 
length  of  time. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

FINANCIAL    GROWTH. 

Property  Owners. — It  is  said  that  the  colored  popu- 
lation of  Georgia  pay  taxes  on  about  $40,000,000  worth 
of  property ;  the  amount  of  mortgage  on  lands  is  not 
stated,  but  even  if  it  should  be  one-half  the  value  of 
the  real  estate  the  result  would  be  the  possession  by 
these  people  of  $20,000,000  worth  of  land,  accumulated 
since  the  war.  It  is  probable  from  the  estimates  that 
the  Negro  of  the  South  owns,  free  of  incumbrances, 
from  $250, ooo, ooo  to  $300,000,000  worth  of  real  estate. 
Is  not  this  result  really  unprecedented  in  the  history 
of  our  civilization? 

The  Negro  of  the  South  pays  taxes  on  over  $300,  ooo,  - 
ooo  worth  of  real  and  personal  property,  indicating  that 
the  true  value  of  the  race  holdings  in  1890  was  not  less 
than  $650,000,000.  Practically,  every  dollar  of  this  has 
been  accumulated  in  the  last  thirty  years,  about  the 
period  of  a  single  generation  of  our  colored  race ;  and 
it  shows,  as  nothing  else  can  show,  that  the  spirit  of 
thrift  and  enterprise  is  being  acquired  by  the  Negro, 
from  his  white  neighbors. 

The  race  has  in  its  possession,  certainly,  a  sound 
and  strong  basis  of  means  for  displaying  its  progress, 
objectively,  to  the  high  credit  of  the  colored  people  and 
greatly  to  their  benefit. 

Wealthy  Men;  Examples.— Among  the  property 
owners  of  Jackson  ward,  Richmond,  Va. ,  the  following 
are  the  most  prominent:  Mrs.  Bettie  T.  Lewis,  $150,- 
ooo ;  Mrs.  Fannie  C.  Thompson,  $15,000;  W.  I.  John- 
son,  $13,000;  A.  Hayes,  $12,000;  William  Lyons, 

297 


298  PROGRESS  OF  A  RACE. 

$10,000;  John  Oliver,  $10,000;  Dr.  S.  H.  Dismond, 
$8,000;  J.  B.  Harris,  $7,000;  William  Tennant,  $7,000; 
W.  H.  White,  $7,000;  Rev.  W.  W.  Browne,  $6,000;  Rev. 
J.  E.  Jones,  $5,000;  B.  F.  Turner,  $5,000;  Dr.  R.  E. 
Jones,  $5,000;  S.  W.  Robinson,  $5,000. 

Many  other  colored  men  of  wealth  in  Richmond 
deserve  to  be  mentioned  in  this  connection,  but  time 
and  space  forbid.  The  above  are  only  examples  of 
what  can  be  done  by  the  industrious,  economical  col- 
ored men  in  every  city. 

Much  Property  is  owned  by  the  colored  people  of 
the  North  and  West.  Some  of  their  estates  run  high 
into  the  hundred  thousands.  Many  of  them,  though 
shut  out  almost  entirely  from  the  trades  and  business 
avenues,  have  accumulated  handsome  homes,  and  live 
in  elegance  and  refinement. 

Rev.  A.  G.  Davis,  of  Raleigh,  North  Carolina,  in  an 
address  at  the  North  Carolina  Colored  Agricultural 
Fair,  in  reference  to  the  Negro's  progress,  says  that 
among  other  things:  "Scan,  if  you  will,  the  long  line 
of  eight  million  Negroes  as  they  march  slowly  but 
surely  up .  the  road  of  progress,  and  you  will  find  in 
their  ranks  such  men  as  Granville  T.  Woods,  of  Ohio, 
the  electrician,  mechanical  engineer,  manufacturer  of 
telephones,  telegraph  and  electrical  instruments; 
William  Still,  of  Philadelphia,  the  coal  dealer;  Henry 
Tanner,  the  artist;  John  W.  Tarry,  foreman  of  the 
iron  and  fitting  department  of  the  Chicago  West 
Division  Street  Car  Company;  J.  D.  Baltimore,  engi- 
neer, machinist  and  inventor,  of  Washington,  D.  C. ; 
Wiley  Jones,  of  Pine  Bluff,  Arkansas,  the  owner  of  the 
street  railroad  and  park;  Richard  M.  Hancock,  fore- 
man of  the  pattern  shops  of  the  Eagle  Works  and  Manu- 
facturing -Company,  and  draughtsman;  John  Black, 


FINANCIAL  GROWTH.  299 

the  inventor,  whose  inventions  are  worth  tens  of  thou- 
sands ;  W.  C.  Atwood,  the  lumber  merchant  and  capi- 
talist.'* To  this  we  might  add  the  following-  list  of 
names  of  a  few  wealthy  colored  people  in  the  United 
States,  as  given  by  Prof.  E.  A.  Johnson,  of  Raleigh: 

Amanda  Eubanks,  of  Georgia $400,000 

Mrs.  M.  Carpenter,  San  Francisco 300,000 

John  McKee,  Philadelphia 300,000 

W.  Q.  Atwood,  Baltimore 300,000 

Fred  Douglass  Estate,  Washington,  D.  C 300,000 

William  Still,  Philadelphia 200,000 

Robert  Purvis,  Washington,  D.  C 150,000 

Mr.  Smith,  New  York 150,000 

Ex.  Gov.  P.  S.  B.  Pinchback,  Louisiana 150,000 

John  Thomas,  Baltimore 1 50  ooo 

Mr.  D.  C.  White,  New  York 130,000 

The  Morrisettes  of  South  Carolina 130,000 

Mrs.  Mars,  New  York 100,000 

Mr.  W.  C.  Coleman,  North  Carolina 100,000 

Bowers  Estate,  Philadelphia 80,000 

Mr.  Avery  Smith,  Florida 80,000 

Mr.  J.  H.  Lewis,  of  Boston,  formerly  of  North  Carolina. .     70,000 

Bishop  Beebe,  North  Carolina 50,000 

Several  in  Alabama 50,000 

Fifty  in  North  Carolina 10,000 

Fifty  in  Georgia 10,000 

One  hundred  in  Louisiana 10,000 

Twelve  in  Mississippi 10,000 

Sixty  in  Texas 10,000 

Fifty  in  Virginia 10,000 

Wealthy  Colored  New  York  Men. — There  are  many 
wealthy  colored  men  who  live  in  New  York  City. 
Several  who  were  formerly  slaves  count  their  money 
by  the  hundred  thousand.  Four  or  five  physicians  in 
this  great  metropolis  have  a  practice  of  many 
thousand  dollars  a  year. 

Mortgaged  Property. — One  of  the  notable  showing! 
of  the  last  census  is  the  low  percentage  of  mortgaged 


300  PROGRESS  OF  A  RACE. 

property  in  the  South.  In  Georgia  this  percentage 
is  3.18;  in  Tennessee,  3.87;  in  Florida,  3.63;  in  Ala- 
bama, 3.98,  and  in  Louisana,  3.94.  The  census  of  1890 
also  gives  another  evidence,  that  is  more  direct,  of  the 
improved  condition  of  the  Negroes  in  the  South.  In 
1890  there  were  12,690,152  homes  and  farms  in  the 
United  States,  and  of  this  number  1,186,174  are  occu- 
pied by  pure  blacks  and  224,595  by  Mulattoes.  Of 
the  Negroes,  207,616  own  their  own  homes  or  farms, 
and  978,558  rent  them.  Of  the  Mulattoes,  56,662  own 
and  167,923  rent.  The  percentage  of  mortgaged  prop- 
erty owned  by  Negroes  is  only  10.71,  while  the 
percentage  of  mortgaged  property  for  the  whole 
country  is  38.97.  Of  the  property  held  by  Negroes, 
88.58  per  cent  is  owned  without  encumbrance.  In  the 
North  Atlantic  states  there  are  5,808  homes  and  farms 
owned  by  Negroes  free  from  mortgage,  and  3,921  that 
are  mortgaged ;  in  the  North  Central  states  there  are 
20,060  homes  and  farms  owned  by  Negroes  free  from 
incumbrance,  and  9,691  that  are  mortgaged;  in  the 
South  Central  states  there  are  100,591  homes  and  farms 
owned  by  Negroes  free  from  incumbrances,  and  7,608 
that  are  mortgaged;  in  the  Western  states  there  are 
r,  204  farms  and  homes  owned  free  by  Negroes,  and 
289  that  are  mortgaged.  In  the  whole  country  there 
are  234,747  homes  and  farms  owned  by  Negroes  free 
from  all  incumbrance,  and  29,541  mortgaged.  In  the 
South  the  percentage  of  home  owners  is  larger  than  in 
the  North,  and  the  proportion  of  these  owners  on 
farms  of  their  own  is  larger  than  that  of  those  who 
have  homes  in  cities  and  villages.  With  the  white 
race  the  condition  is  just  the  opposite,  the  large  per- 
centage of  owners  having  homes  in  cities  and  villages 
rather  than  farms. 


FINANCIAL  GROWTH.  801 

Twenty-five  Years'  Accumulations.  —  Alabama, 
$9,200,125;  Arkansas,  $8,010,315  ;  Florida,  $7,900,400; 
Georgia,  $10,415,330;  Kentucky,  $5,900,010;  Louis- 
iana, $18,100,528;  Mississippi,  $13,400,213;  Missouri, 
$6,600,343;  North.  Carolina,  $11,010,652;  South  Caro- 
lina, $12,500,000;  Texas,  $18,010,545;  Tennessee, 
$10,400,211;  Virginia,  $4,900,000. 

The  Colored  Churches  in  the  United  States  own 
$16,310,441;  the  total  amount  of  property  owned  by 
the  colored  people  in  all  the  states  is  rated  at  over 
$263,000,000. 

Jacob  McKinley. — Jacob  McKinley,  of  Atlanta,  Ga. , 
was  a  man  of  worth  and  character.  He  was  a  man  of 
perhaps  more  than  thirty  years  when  Sherman  cap- 
tured Atlanta  and  marched  to  the  sea. 

With  many  others  of  his  race  he  came  to  Atlanta  at 
thau  time,  having  neither  education  nor  money;  but 
he  did  have  an  enviable  reputation  as  a  Christian  and 
an  honest  man,  and  also  had  a  good  trade  as  a  stone 
mason. 

With  this  capital  he  set  to  work  to  help  rear  Atlanta 
from  the  heap  of  ashes  in  which  he  found  her  to  the 
great  and  prosperous  city  of  more  than  a  hundred 
thousand  inhabitants  of  today. 

In  this  work  he  made  both  friends  and  money,  and 
when  he  passed  from  labor  to  reward  in  1896  his 
friends  were  found  among  both  races  and  all  classes  of 
men. 

At  his  death  his  estate  was  valued  at  $40,  ooo,  all  of 
which  he  left  to  his  wife  and  children,  except  a  lot  on 
which  he  had  erected  a  Baptist  church,  known  as 
" McKinley 's  Chapel."  This  he  gave  to  his  race  and 
left  it  as  a  monument  to  his  name. 

Robert  Thomas  Taylor  was  born  a  slave  in  Georgia. 


302  PROGRESS  OF  A  RACE. 

He  has  shown  what  determined  will  and  energy 
might  reveal  to  many  others.  Soon  after  he  was  freed, 
he,  with  his  wife  and  five  children,  moved  to  Texas, 
and  in  a  few  years,  through  industry  and  economy, 
was  the  owner  of  100  acres  of  land.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Taylor  are  honored  more  for  what  they  have  made  of 
their  sons  than  for  what  they  are  themselves.  One  of 
them,  after  taking  a  course  in  a  college,  is  principal  of 
a  school  in  Texas ;  a  second  is  pastor  of  a  Baptist  church 
in  Corsicanna,  Texas,  one  of  the  largest  Baptist 
churches  in  the  state.  The  third  has  completed  a 
course  in  the  Meharry  Medical  College,  and  is  now  a 
practicing  physician  in  a  city  in  Texas.  The  fourth, 
who  has  completed  a  course  in  Shaw  University, 
Raleigh,  North  Carolina,  is  teaching  in  Texas.  Mr. 
Taylor  may  well  be  proud  of  the  success  of  his  sons. 
He  has,  since  freedom,  learned  to  write  and  transact 
his  own  business.  He  has  accumulated  property  to  the 
amount  of  about  $6,  ooo,  besides  having  paid  out  about 
$4,  ooo  for  the  education  of  his  sons. 

Lewis  Bates  is  probably  the  wealthiest  colored  man 
in  Chicago,  being  rated  at  nearly  $500,000.  He  is 
entirely  uneducated,  dresses  poorly,  and  lives  like  a 
poor  man.  He  was  born  a  slave  nearly  seventy  years 
ago.  In  1 86 1  he  reached  Chicago  by  the  "Under- 
ground Railroad,"  and  began  working  in  a  foundry. 
He  soon  became  an  expressman,  and  at  once  began  in- 
vesting his  savings  in  real  estate.  In  this  he  has  shown 
excellent  judgment,  and  nearly  all  his  investments  are 
gilt-edged.  Though  he  spends  little  money  on  him- 
self, he  is  open  hearted  and  kind.  He  has  no  family, 
and  his  only  heirs  are  a  few  very  distant  relatives. 

Encouraged. — Dr.  Butler  says:  "Our  people  should 
feel  greatly  encouraged  when  they  learn  that  in  1894 


FINANCIAL  GROWTH.  303 

their  aggregate  wealth,  including  church  property,  was 
estimated  at  more  than  $325,000,000.  At  that  time 
there  were  many  thousand  men  and  women  of  the 
race  with  fortunes  ranging  from  $5,000  to  $1,000,000. 
Besides,  they  have  many  lawyers,  preachers,  teachers, 
bishops,  business  men  and  women,  and  more  than  one 
thousand  physcians.  They  also  have  authors  of  poetry 
and  music,  and  over  three  hundred  newspapers  and 
magazines.  All  this  has  been  accomplished  in  one 
generation.  While  it  is  a  wonderful  stretch,  yet,  if 
we  had  started  right,  we  might  have  been  much  fur- 
ther on  the  road  of  success.  Therefore,  I  say,  every 
member  of  the  race,  old  and  young,  great  and  small, 
poor  and  rich,  learned  and  unlearned,  let  us  start  out 
with  the  year  of  1898  to  do  all  in  our  power  to  better 
our  condition — morally,  mentally,  spiritually,  and 
financially.  Let  us  acquire  intellect,  morals  and 
wealth,  and  in  the  meantime,  let  us  not  fail  to  lay  up 
for  ourselves  treasures  in  the  kingdom  of  God. ' ' 

The  Negro  in  Politics. — While  the  emancipation 
brought  many  blessings  to  the  colored  people  of  the 
United  States,  it  also  brought  with  it  many  disappoint- 
ments. When  the  chains  of  slavery  were  broken  many 
colored  people  pictured  to  themselves  a  life  of  ease 
and  pleasure,  as  they  had  seen  their  masters  living, 
but  instead  they  met  stern  responsibilities  which  com- 
pelled them  to  provide  foi  themselves.  It  became 
necessary  for  the  race  to  learn,  through  the  struggles 
and  persecutions,  through  want  and  poverty,  how  to 
provide  for  themselves  and  become  independent  citi- 
zens. 

Greed  for  Office. — Of  course,  there  were  a  number 
who  expected  to  be  promoted  to  offices  at  once.  While 
there  were  some  of  the  colored  race  who  held  public 


304  PROGRESS  OF  A  RACE. 

positions  and  acquitted  themselves  nobly,  yet,  this 
greed  for  office  has  been  detrimental  to  the  advance- 
ment of  the  Negro  in  general.  It  is  the  general 
opinion  that  the  Negro,  in  many  cases,  has  had  too 
much  to  do  with  politics.  The  greed  for  office  has 
often  occasioned  distrust  and  dread  in  the  minds  of 
the  whites,  and  thus  the  whole  cause  has  been  hindered. 
Politics  Should  Follow.— Carl  Schurz  very  aptly 
says:  "The  wiser  heads  among  the  colored  people 
themselves  can  hardly  fail  to  see  that  their  political 
preferment  must  not  precede  but  follow  their  advance- 
ment in  the  other  walks  of  life.  A  goodly  number  of 
Negroes  achieving  distinction  as  lawyers,  or  as  phy- 
sicians, or  as  ministers,  or  as  educators,  or  as  business 
men,  will,  by  the  impression  produced  upon  public  opin- 
ion, effect  far  more  for  the  political  advancement  of 
their  race  than  ever  so  many  Negro  politicians  getting 
themselves  elected  to  Congress  or  appointed  to  other 
offices,  and  infinitely  more  than  the  horde  of  colored 
place  hunters  who  besiege  party  committees  for  "influ- 
ence" or  appointing  officers  for  favors  in  the  name  of 
the  colored  vote,  and  who  thus  intensify  the  repulsive- 
ness  of  one  of  the  most  baneful  features  of  our  political 
life.  In  this  respect  nothing  more  helpful  can  happen 
to  the  colored  people  than  that  all  the  government 
employments  be  put  under  civil  service  rules,  so  that 
every  colored  citizen  who  gets  an  appointment  be 
known  to  have  obtained  it  on  account  of  his  own  indi- 
vidual merit,  in  free  competition  on  an  equal  footing 
with  other  citizens,  white  or  black,  and  that  he  is, 
therefore,  fairly  and  honorably  entitled  to  it.  Places 
so  won  will  indeed  be  marks  of  real  proficiency  and 
distinction,  and  raise  the  colored  people  in  that  public 
esteem  which  above  all  things  they  need. ' ? 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

MORTALITY. 

The  Colored  Race  in  Nashville.— Prof.   Harris,  of 

Fisk  University,  recently  completed  a  canvass  of  the 
colored  people  living  in  a  certain  district  of  Nashville. 
He  gives  us  the  following  striking  and  important  facts: 

Birth  Rate. — I  visited  145  families  containing  649 
people,  or  an  average  of  something  over  four  to  a 
family.  In  other  words,  each  family  contains  on  an 
average  between  two  and  three  children.  This  falls 
far  below  what  former  literature  on  the  rapid  increase 
of  the  Negro  might  lead  us  to  expect.  If  one  may 
generalize  from  so  limited  a  canvass,  the  Negro  is  not 
the  "prolific  animal"  that  he  has  been  termed.  His 
birth  rate  is  considerably  less  than  it  ought  to  be. 

Mortality. — This  fact  in  connection  with  the  exces- 
sive mortality  among  them  is,  to  all  thoughtful  colored 
men,  an  occasion  of  some  alarm.  The  Negro  popula- 
tion of  Nashville  is  probably  only  half  as  great  as  the 
white ;  yet  they  sometimes  have  not  only  relatively  but 
absolutely,  a  greater  number  of  deaths.  The  excess 
of  deaths  among  the  colored  people  is  due  largely  and 
perhaps  altogether,  to  constitutional  diseases.  During 
a  short  period  of  time  some  years  ago  the  colored 
death  rate  was  far  ahead  of  the  birth  rate ;  I  estimated 
that  if  emigration  and  immigration  were  shut  off,  and 
the  vital  statistics  were  to  continue  right  along  as  they 
did  that  period  of  time,  in  less  than  one  hundred  years 
there  would  not  be  a  colored  man,  woman  or  child 
living  in  the  city  of  Nashville. 

Homes. — Of  the  homes  I  canvassed  in  the  territory 

305 
30  Progress 


306  PROGRESS    OF    A    RACE. 

described,  77  are  rented,  61  are  owned  by  their  occu- 
pants, and  7  are  being  bought  in  monthly  payments, 
averaging  $8.  oo  per  month ;  that  is,  nearly  47  per  cent, 
either  own  or  are  buying  their  homes.  This  is  a  very 
good  showing,  when  we  remember  that  thirty  years 
ago  they  hardly  owned  even  the  clothes  on  their  backs. 

Of  the  77  who  rent,  12  pay  above  $6.00  per 
month,  18  pay  $6.00;  20  pay  $5.00,  and  27  pay  less  than 
$5.00  The  highest  monthly  payment  made  by  those 
who  are  buying  is  $12.00;  the  lowest  $5.00. 

Deaths. — Within  the  last  five  years  there  have  been 
92  deaths  in  this  community,  19  of  which  were  due  to 
consumption,  and  8  to  pneumonia.  The  other  65 
deaths  were  due  to  34  different  causes.  It  would  seem 
as  if  pulmonary  consumption  is  the  "destroying  angel" 
among  us,  and  yet  I  am  told  that  before  the  war  this 
dread  disease  was  virtually  unknown  among  the  slaves. 
During  the  year  1896,  the  people  suffered  from  43  dif- 
ferent diseases,  seven  dying  from  consumption.  Thir- 
teen suffer  from  scrofula,  occasioning  the  loss  of  an  eye 
in  the  case  of  six  and  rendering  four  others  quite  deaf. 

Children  in  Public  Schools.— Eighty-seven  per  cent 
of  the  children  of  scholastic  age  are  in  the  public 
schools.  Many,  perhaps  most,  of  the  13  per  cent,  who 
are  out,  have  applied  for  admission  to  the  schools,  but 
have  been  turned  away  because  of  lack  of  room. 

Use  of  Educational  Advantages. — The  colored  people 
are  making  splendid  use  of  their  educational  advan- 
tages, and  however  unfavorably  their  vital  and  social 
statistics  may  compare  with  those  of  another  race,  in 
educational  progress  they  have  equaled  any,  and  sur- 
passed most  other  people. 

Occupation  and  Earnings. — Among  the  colored 
people  of  this  community  there  are  represented  51 


MORTALITY.  807 

different  occupations:  For  the  year  1896  the  total 
weekly  income  of  the  families  investigated,  including 
all  that  was  earned  by  every  member  of  the  family, 
was  $1,321.65,  or  a  weekly  average  of  only  $9.11  per 
family.  When  we  remember  that  more  than  one-half 
of  these  families  pay  rent,  and  that  some  support  a 
large  number  of  children,  it  is  a  true  saying  that  "  one- 
half  of  the  world  does  not  know  how  the  other  half 
lives. "  But  of  133  families  visited,  33  earned  less  than 
$6  a  week,  49  earned  $6  or  more,  but  not  $10;  43 
earned  $10  or  more,  but  not  $20 ;  8  earned  $20  or  more, 
but  not  $30,  and  2  earned  $30  or  more,  but  not  $40.  It 
is  worthy  of  a  remark  that  among  the  649  people  can- 
vassed, in  spite  of  their  poverty,  I  found  only  four  pro- 
fessional beggars. 

Enforced  Idleness. — During  the  last  year  61  col- 
ored people,  2 1  years  old  and  above,  who  are  habitually 
employed,  underwent  a  period  of  enforced  idleness 
Aggregating  749  weeks,  or  an  average  of  three  months 
per  capita.  When  we  remember  how  scanty  is  the 
average  income  earned  by  the  whole  family,  being 
only  $9  per  week,  three  months  of  enforced  idleness 
must  have  intensified  greatly  their  already  hard  battle 
for  life. 

Constitutional  Diseases. — The  slow  rate  of  increase 
among  the  colored  people  is  due  to  two  causes,  consti- 
tutional diseases  and  the  crimes  of  mothers.  More 
white  people  die  from  contagious  diseases  than 
colored.  More  white  people  die  from  local  diseases 
than  colored ;  while  more  colored  people  die  from  con- 
stitutional diseases  than  white.  In  other  words,  the 
excess  of  colored  deaths  over  white  is  due  to  constitu- 
tional diseases. 

Crimes  of  Mothers. — I  also  found  by  personal  in- 


308  PROGRESS   OF    A   RACE. 

vestigation  that  year  that  a  large  number  of  colored 
washerwomen,  finding  it  hard  to  get  the  husks  to  feed 
and  the  rags  to  clothe  their  already  large  family  of 
little  ones,  living  in  one  room  like  stock,  rather  than 
to  add  to  their  burdens,  resort  to  crime.  This  is  also 
a  fruitful  reason  of  the  slow  rate  of  increase  in  the 
colored  population.  This  state  of  affairs  is  not 
confined  to  Nashville.  It  is  true  of  nearly  all  our 
large  Southern  cities ;  and  whether  we  like  it  or  not, 
the  hard  fact  remains  that  the  enormous  death  rate 
among  us,  together  with  our  small  birth  rate,  is  one 
of  the  signs  of  the  times  that,  unless  our  home  life  be 
radically  changed,  the  Negro  problem  in  America  may 
be  ultimately  solved  by  the  extinction  of  the  Negro. 

Lack  of  Stamina. — Anglo-Saxons  are  exterminating 
the  inferior  races  more  rapidly  and  more  surely  than 
shot  and  shell  and  bayonet.  Before  the  advancing 
march  of  the  Anglo-Saxon,  the  New  Zealanders,  the 
Tasmanians,  the  Pacific  Islanders,  the  Negroes  of 
South  Africa,  and  the  aborigines  of  Australia  have  all 
gone  down  to  the  grave;  and,  be  it  remembered, 
brethren,  that  these  races  have  all  perished,  not 
because  of  destructive  wars  and  pestilence,  but  because 
they  were  unable  to  live  in  the  environment  of  a  nine- 
teenth century  civilization.  Their  destruction  was  not 
due  to  a  persecution  which  came  to  them  from  without, 
but  to  a  lack  of  stamina  within.  Their  extermination 
was  due  to  the  inexorable  working  out  of  a  law  as 
natural  as  the  law  of  gravitation.  And  be  it  remem- 
bered, that  these  races  perished  in  spite  of  the  human- 
itarian and  philanthropic  efforts  that  were  put  forth  to 
save  them.  They  perished  because  they  had  not  power 
of  resistance  within. 

Keep  Up,  or  Get  Out  of  the  Way. — If  the  fate  of 


MORTALITY.  309 

these  races  teaches  me  anything,  it  teaches  me  that  in 
the  onward  march  of  the  nations  the  colored  race  in 
America  has  got  to  keep  up  with  the  procession,  or 
else,  like  them,  it  has  got  to  get  out  of  the  way.  Now, 
this  may  seem  hard  to  you,  but  hard  as  it  is,  it  is  a  hard 
fact,  and  we  might  as  well  face  it.  The  social,  intel- 
lectual, and  scientific  world  is  moving  as  fast  in  its 
orbit  as  the  earth  beneath  our  feet ;  and  those  of  us  who 
cannot  keep  up  with  it  are  bound  to  be  crushed  to 
pieces  by  it.  Our  white  friends  could  not  retard  the 
world's  progress  to  accommodate  us,  even  if  they 
would ;  and,  men,  I  believe,  that  we  are  too  manly  to 
ask  them  to  do  so,  even  if  they  could. 

Social  Regeneration. — We  are  apt  to  look  to  business 
and  to  politics  to  bring  about  our  social  regeneration, 
to  giver  us  civil  standing  and  political  recognition ;  we  are 
apt  to  look  solely  to  business  and  to  politics  to  do  away 
with  the  old  order  of  things  among  us,  and  bring  in  the 
new.  We  are  looking  to  business  and  to  politics  to 
give  us  a  new  home  life,  to  give  us  new  social  status — 
to  give  us  a  new  earth — and  we  neglect  Christian  work 
because  we  forget  in  a  measure  that  before  we  can 
have  the  new  earth  we  must  have  the  new  heaven. 
First,  we  must  have  the  new  heaven ;  then  we  can  have 
the  new  earth.  First,  new  ambitions,  new  purposes,  new 
motives,  new  ideals ;  then  the  new  home  life,  the  new 
social  status,  the  new  civil  and  business  standing,  and  the 
new  political  conditions.  First,  the  new  heaven,  then 
the  new  earth. ' ' 

Mortality. — In  1896  a  convention  on  the  mortality 
among  the  Negroes  in  cities  was  held  at  Atlanta  Uni- 
versity, and  widespread  interest  was  exhibited.  From 
the  proceedings  of  this  convention  we  cull  the  following 
items  from  papers  read  by  eminent  men  through  the 
nation: 


310  PROGRESS   OF   A   RACE. 

A  Problem. — The  rapid  growth  of  our  great  cities 
within  recent  years  is  one  of  the  phases  of  modern  life 
which  brings  with  it  problems  whose  solution  calls  for 
the  best  efforts  of  the  leading  men  in  the  city  commun- 
ities, whether  white  or  black.  Special  courses  for  the 
study  of  these  problems  have  been  established  in  the 
Northern  colleges,  and  it  is  felt  that  the  time  has  come 
when  Atlanta  University  must  take  up  the  study  of 
these  problems  of  city  life  which  its  graduates  are 
called  upon  to  meet  and  solve.  It  is  none  too  soon  to 
begin  this  work,  for  each  year  a  larger  proportion  of 
the  colored  race  are  concentrated  in  the  cities. 

In  Cities. — In  1860  only  4.2  per  cent,  of  the  colored 
population  of  the  United  States  were  living  in  the 
cities.  By  1880  the  number  had  increased  to  8.4  per 
cent,  of  the  whole  colored  population,  while  by  1890  it 
had  increased  to  1 2  per  cent.  This  process  of  concen- 
tration in  the  cities  has  been  relatively  much  more 
rapid  among  the  colored  people  than  among  the  whites, 
the  figures  for  whites  during  the  same  period  being- 
10.9  per  cent  in  1860,  and  15.7  percent,  in  1890,  or  an 
increase  of  4.8  per  cent,  against  7.8  per  cent  colored. 
How  rapid  this  increase  in  the  city  population  really 
is  may  be  illustrated  by  the  growth  of  the  colored  popu- 
lation of  Atlanta,  where  the  increase  has  been  at  a 
rate  three  times  as  great  as  for  the  country  at  large. 
For  decade  1870-1880,  the  increase  was  64  per  cent ; 
for  1880-1890,  72  per  cent. ;  while  the  average  increase 
of  colored  population  for  the  whole  country  during  the 
same  period  was  only  20  per  cent,  in  each  decade. 

Five  Cities. — From  the  United  States  census  for  1890, 
we  have  the  mortality  for  the  white  and  colored  popu- 
lation of  five  of  our  largest  cities — Washington,  Balti- 
more, New  Orleans,  Louisville  and  St.  Louis — as 


MORTALITY.  311 

given  in  a  paper  published  by  the  trustees  of  the  Slater 
Fund: 

,— Rates  per  i,ooo-\ 
White.        Colored. 

Washington 19  36 

Baltimore 22  36 

New  Orleans 22  37 

Louisville 18  32 

St.  Louis 17  35 

The  excess  of  colored  over  white  is  100,  63.6,  68. 
77  and  106  per  cent. 

Twenty-one  Families  in  Washington. — Dr.  Evans 
has  furnished  the  information  in  regard  to  one  group 
of  twenty-one  families,  and  although  it  is  impossible 
for  us  to  make  from  this  one  group  any  generalization 
in  regard  to  the  colored  population  of  the  city  of  Wash- 
ington, a  community  of  86,000  persons,  the  information 
is  very  interesting  as  representing  the  generally  well- 
to-do  character  of  the  twenty-one  families  represented. 

The  neighborhood  in  which  they  live  is  reported  as 
being  fair  or  good,  and  this  is  confirmed  by  the  follow- 
ing figures  deduced  from  this  report,  thus : 

Thirteen  of  the  twenty-one  families  own  their  own 
houses.  The  houses  for  the  most  part  are  supplied 
with  modern  conveniences,  nineteen  having  city  water, 
nine  sewer  connections,  etc.  The  average  number  of 
rooms  occupied  by  the  family  is  between  five  and  six, 
the  smallest  number  being  four,  while  over  half  have 
six  or  eight. 

The  average  number  of  persons  occupying  the  same 
sleeping  room  is  two,  although  in  four  instances  there 
are  four  to  a  room,  and  in  one  instance  five.  There 
are  only  four  cases  of  sickness  reported,  while  twelve 
families  report  no  sickness  at  all 

Income. — Only  ten  families  report  aft  to  income,  but 


312  PROGRESS   OF   A    RACE. 

the  average  for  the  ten  is  high,  being  $664  a  year,  and 
in  seven  families  out  of  the  ten  the  husband  entirely 
supports  the  family  by  his  sole  labor.  It  is  interesting 
to  note  the  occupation  of  these  seven  men.  The  largest 
income  is  earned  by  a  carpenter,  who  reports  his 
earnings  as  $780;  next  comes  a  barber,  earning  $720  a 
year;  a  teacher,  earning  $650;  a  janitor,  $560;  a 
laborer,  $480;  a  steward,  $390;  and  laborer,  $250. 

Largest  Income. — The  largest  income  of  one  family 
is  that  of  a  family  of  nine,  the  father  and  mother  both 
dead,  and  the  eldest  brother  and  two  sisters  supporting 
the  family.  The  brother  is  an  expressman,  earning 
$500  a  year;  the  two  sisters  are  teachers,  earning  $450 
each,  making  a  total  of  $1,400  a  year.  This  family 
owns  its  own  house,  having  eight  rooms,  with  city 
water,  sewer  connections  and  other  conveniences. 
Five  of  the  families  report  savings  averaging  $123.52 
per  family. 

Negligence  a  Cause  of  Mortality.— The  average 
laborer  is  exceedingly  neglectful.  He  will  drive  or 
walk  all  day  in  the  rain  or  snow,  come  home  and  go  to 
bed  with  his  wet  clothes  on,  with  the  belief  firmly  fixed 
in  his  mind  that  unless  he  lets  these  clothes  dry  on  him 
he  will  contract  a  cold,  and  no  argument  we  might  use 
will  convince  him  otherwise.  Again,  since  the  colored 
people  here  compose  the  majority  of  the  laboring 
classes,  it  stands  to  reason  that  they  are  more  exposed 
than  the  whites,  and  are  therefore  more  susceptible  to 
those  diseases  that  may  be  caused  by  exposure.  The 
colored  man  sweeps  the  streets  and  fills  his  lungs  with 
the  dust  and  dried  bacteria  expectorated  on  the  streets 
a  few  hours  since  from  the  lungs  of  some  consumptive; 
he  drives  the  garbage  carts,  he  digs  the  sewers,  drives 
hacks  and  drays,  and,  in  fact?  does  the  most  pf 


MORTALITY.  313 

work  involving  exposure,  which  naturally  makes  him 
more  liable  to  contract  such  diseases  as  pleurisy, 
bronchitis,  pneumonia  and  consumption. 

Charitable  Institutions. — The  city  has  neglected, 
and  is  still  neglecting,  the  colored  people,  and  especially 
that  class  of  them  which  is  dependent  upon  its  charity 
in  times  of  sickness.  It  has  millions  to  build  prisons 
with,  but  not  a  dollar  with  which  to  build  charitable 
institutions.  It  allows  money  grabbers  to  build  small 
huts  and  crowd  into  them  five  times  the  number  of 
people  that  should  be  allowed ;  it  has  no  law  by  which 
the  owner  of  this  property  can  be  made  to  keep  it  clean. 
The  houses  are  never  painted,  the  wells  are  filled  with 
the  filth  of  the  neighborhood,  and  the  fences  are  never 
whitewashed,  and  the  city  is  powerless  to  interfere. 
Family  after  family  move  into  these  places,  and  often 
only  .one  or  two  are  left  to  tell  the  story.  My  friends, 
it  is  one  thing  to  stand  here  in  this  clean,  well-lighted 
hall  and  read  papers  on  this  subject,  but  it  is  altogether 
different  to  go  down  into  those  dark,  poor  and  humble 
homes  and  see  death  going  through  destroying  the  old 
and  young  because  of  the  negligence  on  the  part  of 
those  in  authority. 

Physicians. — Some  of  the  white  physicians  neglect 
the  colored  people.  I  wish  it  to  be  understood,  how- 
ever, that  I  mean  some,  not  all,  for  there  are  some 
honorable  exceptions  to  the  statement  just  made.  I 
say  they  neglect  our  people,  and  we  cannot  blame  them. 
Doctors  can  no  more  afford  to  work  for  nothing  than  a 
teacher  or  any  other  person  who  is  working  for  an 
honest  living.  Hence,  he  refuses  to  go  to  these  people ; 
first,  because  they  are  not  able  to  pay,  and  secondly, 
because  the  city  has  appointed  physicians  whose  duty 
it  is  to  attend  the  poor  in  their  various  wards.  Thesf 


314  PROGRESS   OF    A    RACE. 

physicians  are  paid  from  $500  to  $800  a  year  to  do  that 
work,  and  then  they  neglect  it,  especially  such  cases  as 
diphtheria. 

Dispensaries. — While  this  city  has  furnished  physi- 
cians, it  has  furnished  no  medicine.  It  has  no  free 
dispensaries,  as  it  should,  nor  does  it  pay  the  physicians 
money  enough  to  furnish  medicines  applicable  in  every 
case,  and  at  the  same  time  care  for  himself  and  family. 
Hence,  when  he  is  called  to  see  a  patient,  it  matters  not 
what  the  disease  may  be,  it  is  either  compound  cathartic 
pills,  calomel,  epsom  salts,  blue  mass,  or  castor  oil. 
Any  case  these  remedies  don't  reach  is  left  to  get  well 
if  it  can,  or  die  if  it  must  I  ask,  then,  in  all  candor : 
Is  it  any  wonder  that  we  die  so  fast  when  we  get  such 
attention,  doctors,  such  excellent  nursing,  such  fresh 
medicines,  applicable  in  every  case  of  our  diseases? 

Hospitals. — Here  in  Atlanta,  a  city  of  push,  pluck 
and  Christian  [progress,  there  is  not  a  decent  hospital 
where  colored  people  can  be  cared  for.  At  the  Grady 
hospital,  which  takes  about  $20,000  of  the  city's  money 
annually  to  run  it,  is  a  small  wooden  annex  down  by 
the  kitchen,  in  which  may  be  crowded  fifty  or  sixty 
beds,  and  that  is  all  the  hospital  advantages  40,000 
colored  citizens  have.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  our 
white  friends,  with  a  population  of  about  70,000,  have 
all  the  wards  and  private  rooms  in  the  entire  brick  build- 
ing at  this  hospital,  together  with  a  very  fine  hospital 
here,  known  as  St.  Joseph's  Infirmary.  Hence,  my 
friends,  you  can  see  that  one  of  our  greatest  needs  is  a 
first-class,  up-to-date  hospital,  where  the  colored  people 
can  not  only  get  proper  treatment,  but  can  also  have  all 
necessary  operations  performed. 

Intemperance 'a  Cause  of  Mortality.— To  ascertain 
the  truth  of  this  subject  concerning  the  relation  of  in- 


MORTALITY.  315 

temperance  to  mortality,  it  is  necessary  not  only  to 
enumerate  the  deaths  due  to  acute  alcoholism,  such  as 
delirium  tremens  and  the  various  sudden  congestions 
and  paralyses  consequent  upon  the  taking  of  excessive 
quantities  of  strong  drink,  together  with  the  great 
majority  of  homicides,  suicides  and  accidental  deaths, 
which  may  be  traced  directly  to  the  use  of  alcoholics ; 
but  it  is  necessary,  also,  to  inquire  into  the  real  cause 
of  the  deaths  ascribed  to  the  ordinary  acute  and  chronic 
diseases,  the  contagious  and  the  infectious  diseases — 
indeed,  the  whole  category  of  classified  diseases. 

Contagious  and  Infectious  Diseases. — With  refer- 
ence to  death  from  contagious  and  infectious  diseases, 
it  is  the  unanimous  testimony  of  the  leading  authorities 
that  during  the  scourges  of  cholera,  yellow  fever  and 
smallpox,  it  is  the  drinker  who  falls  victim,  the  mod- 
erate drinker  being  no  exception  to  the  rule,  while  the 
total  abstainer  is  less  liable  to  contract  the  disease,  and 
if  affected,  is  far  more  likely  to  survive.  The  fact 
holds  good  in  such  diseases  as  scarlet  and  typhoid 
fevers,  when  there  are  unknown  antidotes  to  the  specific 
poison,  and  the  quality  of  the  tissues  is  relied  upon  to 
resist  or  survive  the  disease. 

Heredity. — Alcohol,  as  a  remote  cause  of  death,  is 
none  the  less  effective  in  cases  in  which  the  victim  is 
not  himself  addicted  to  the  use  of  strong  drinks,  but 
inherits  from  drinking  parents  a  weak  constitution, 
which  renders  him  an  easy  prey,  an  inviting  field  for 
disease.  To  inherited  weakness  is  due  a  large  per  cent 
of  the  alarming  rate  of  infant  mortality  resulting  from 
cholera  infantum,  measles,  scarlet  fever,  diphtheria, 
etc.  Says  our  own  Dr.  Orme:  "If  it  were  possible 
to  separate  deaths  due  to  alcohol  from  the  classified 
diseases  to  which  they  are  ascribed,  the  facts  would 
be  astounding. ' ' 


816  PROGRESS   OF   A   RACE. 

Principal  Factors. — That  intemperance  is  one  of  the 
principal  factors  in  the  terrible  death-rate  among  the 
Negro  population  in  the  cities,  there  can  be  no  ques- 
tion. It  is  in  the  cities  that  intemperance  prevails.  I 
believe  that  no  one  at  all  informed  would  hesitate  to 
assert  that  ninety-nine  per  cent  of  the  city  population 
are  addicted  to  some  extent  to  the  use  of  strong  drinks. 
No  one  will  deny  that  the  Negro  is  no  exception  to  this 
rule.  It  is  well  known  that  that  class  of  the  Negro  pop- 
ulation which  furnishes  the  excessive  death  rate  is  that 
class  addicted  to  the  use  of  whisky  and  beer  in  their 
vilest  forms.  It  is  this  ignorant,  drunken  class  of 
Negroes  which  furnish  90  per  cent,  of  the  criminals 
which  , crowd  our  jails  and  penitentiaries,  and  who, 
poorly  clad  and  fed,  exposed  to  the  great  extremes  of 
heat  and  cold,  working  rain  or  shine  at  most  laborious 
tasks,  while  serving  terms  in  the  chain-gangs,  contract 
diseases  and  die  by  hundreds  annually.  Those  who 
live  to  be  released  flock  to  the  cities  to  furnish  their 
remaining  weeks  or  months,  and  add  their  quota  to 
the  death-rate.  If  this  were  the  end  alone  of  men  and 
women,  old  and  hardened  criminals,  it  would  not  be 
so  serious,  but  this  is  the  end  of  hundreds  of  boys  and 
girls  arrested  for  misdemeanors. 

Poverty  a  Cause  of  Mortality.— Slavery  left  the 
colored  man  the  rich  inheritance  of  a  log  cabin  and  a 
patch  of  turnip  greens.  This  log  cabin  is  a  piece  of 
architecture  that  will  soon  be  entirely  relegated  to  the 
barbarous  past.  Peace  be  to  its  ashes !  It  has  disappeared 
in  the  towns  and  cities,  and  is  found  only  in  the  poverty- 
stricken  rural  districts.  Can  not  you  recall  the  picture 
of  that  poor  family  who  worked  hard  all  day  in  the  field 
while  their  little  ones,  almost  nude,  played  around  the 
door  until  the  sun  dropped  behind  that  hill  studded 


MORTALITY.  317 

with  beautiful  trees?  See  the  mother  return  and  pre 
pare  her  evening  meal ;  the  fire  is  lighted,  the  children 
hungry  and  crying;  behold  the  repast — fried  bacon, 
poorly- cooked  bread  and  black  molasses.  A  pine 
torch  illuminates  the  room  that  serves  as  a  kitchen, 
dining-room,  bed  and  bath-room.  After  supper  the 
little  one's  are  off  to  bed  without  being  properly  bathed 
and  dressed,  and  after  the  usual  chair-nap,  the  father 
and  mother  retire.  There  they  are  in  a  row,  and  only 
one  small  window  and  door  to  let  in  nature's  life-giving 
air  that  keeps  them  from  suffocating. 

Mortality  Among  the  Children  of  the  Poor.— We 
find  great  mortality  among  the  children  of  the  poor. 
Even1  before  they  can  make  their  wants  known,  the 
mother  is  compelled  to  leave  them  daily,  and  a  sur- 
prising number  are  burned  to  death.  The  older  chil- 
dren are  taught  to  go  out  and  pick  up  trash  to  burn, 
rags,  bones,  and  iron  to  sell,  thereby  inviting  disease 
and  death.  It  is  a  strange  fact,  yet  true,  that  all  work 
that  is  obnoxious,  dangerous  and  laborious  is  given  the 
poor  Negro  at  pay  that  would  kill  some  people  even  to 
think  of  having  it  to  do  for  a  living.  These  people,  in 
buying  food  etc. ,  always  seek  quantity  and  not  quality ; 
hence  the  butcher,  fisherman,  fruiterer,  dairyman  and 
merchants  are  careful  to  anticipate  their  wants. 

Ignorance. — Among  the  many  causes  which  produce 
death  in  our  large  cities,  it  is  by  no  means  an  easy 
matter  to  distinguish  beween  ignorance,  poverty  and 
negligence.  However,  it  is  safe  to  assert  that  no  few 
of  the  deaths  which  occur  in  our  large  cities  are  the 
result  of  ignorance,  either  directly  or  indirectly. 

It  will  be  seen  from  the  outset  that  city  life  requires 
a  more  accurate  observance  of  the  laws  of  health  than 
country  or  village  life.  With  this  fact  in  mind,  all 


318  PROGRESS    OF    A    RACE. 

cities  have  established  their  boards  of  health  to  look 
after  and  remove  any  and  all  causes  which  in  their  minds 
produce  sickness  or  death.  These  boards  are  usually 
composed  of  the  best  informed  physicians  who,  from 
time  to  time,  make  and  publish  rules  which  are  to  be 
observed  and  obeyed  by  all  citizens.  These  rules  the 
ignorant  classes  do  not  obey,  not  because  they  are  will- 
fully disobedient,  but  because  they  are  ignorant.  They 
cannot  read,  they  have  no  interest  in  public  affairs; 
they  know  but  little  about  the  causes  which  bring  sick- 
ness and  disease  among  them,  and  hence  are  the  easy 
prey  of  epidemics  and  contagions. 

Improper  Ventilation. — Many  suffer  on  account  of 
improper  ventilation,  not  knowing  that  impure  air  is 
the  parent  of  every  lung  trouble  known  to  the  human 
family.  Pure  air  is  one  of  the  freest  and  best  gifts 
bestowed  upon  man  by  our  beneficent  Father;  but 
alas !  how  many  thousands  in  our  large  cities  die  every 
year  from  failing  to  use  this  gift!  Man  and  woman, 
through  ignorance,  shut  the  doors  and  windows  of 
their  houses,  thus  barring  out  God's  life-giving  atmos- 
phere, and  inviting  consumption  and  death.  Pure  air 
gives  life,  foul  air  gives  death. 

General  Condition. — "Birds  of  a  feather  flock 
together. ' '  In  Augusta,  as  in  most  cities  of  America, 
there  are  parts  of  the  city  occupied  exclusively  by 
Negroes,  except  a  few  whites,  usually  German  or  Irish, 
keepers  of  small  stores,  who  live  among  the  Negroes 
for  the  sake  of  their  trade.  Although  some  do  not 
believe  it,  yet  it  is  true  that  there  are  grades  of  society 
among  Negroes,  as  among  other  races,  and  the  lines  of 
distinction  are  drawn  for  as  wise  and  as  silly  reasons  as 
are  those  among  the  more  favored  people.  As  in  other 
things,  this  grading  is  seen  in  the  choosing  of  a  locality 


MORTALITY.  319 

for  a  home.  The  poorest,  most  untidy  and  the  most 
ignorant  seek  each  other.  They  always  find  homes  in 
the  same  neighborhood,  if  not  in  adjoining  houses.  As 
each  city  has  its  Negro  settlements,  and  as  the  great 
rank  and  file  of  the  race  belong  to  the  grade  or  class 
called  the  poorest  and  most  ignorant,  the  largest  set- 
tlements are  of  this  kind. 

Wages. — These  people  have  small  wages,  many  with 
nothing  to  do  a  great  part  of  the  year,  and  the 
majority  have  no  steady  employment.  For  food,  rent, 
fuel  and  clothing  they  are  dependent  upon  the  odd  jobs 
that  pay  not  more  than  fifty  cents  per  day  for  two  or 
three  days  in  a  week.  To  eke  out  a  living  on  such  an 
income  requires,  they  know,  the  strictest  economy, 
but  how  to  economize  they  know  not,  yet,  thinking 
they  know,  in  their  way  they  set  about  it.  The  first 
step  is  to  cut  down  the  expense  of  living  by  taking  no 
more  house  room  than  barely  enough  in  which  to  turn 
around.  A  small  family,  parents  and  two  or  three 
children,  take  one  room. 

Contents  of  a  Room. — In  this  room,  15x15,  some- 
times smaller  space,  are  placed  a  bedstead,  a  three- 
quarters  bed,  sometimes  two  (but  in  these  days  of 
cheap  furniture  and  installment  sales,  a  folding 
lounge  very  often  takes  the  place  of  the  second  bed- 
stead), one  or  two  tables,  a  trunk,  bureau,  not  less  than 
four  chairs,  tubs,  boards,  eta,  for  laundering,  cooking 
utensils,  and  a  lot  of  odds  and  ends.  These,  with  the 
family,  give  breathing  space  scarcely  sufficient  for  one, 
yet  by  some  means  it  is  hoped  to  get  enough  for  the 
whole  family.  It  is  not  long  before  hypostatic  pneu- 
monia or  tuberculosis  visits  them,  and  finding  the 
atmosphere  congenial  abides  with  the  family. 

Infants. — The  high  rate  of  mortality  among  infants 


320  PROGRESS  OF  A  RACE. 

is  a  subject  well  worthy  the  consideration  of  all  thought- 
ful men  and  women,  and  naturally  leads  one  to  enquire 
as  to  causes  and  possible  remedies.  Prominent  among 
the  causes  of  this  high  rate  must  be  mentioned  bad 
heredity  and  injudicious  and  harmful  management  of 
these  little  ones  by  their  parents.  As  a  result  of  these 
two  causes,  many  children  are  ill-prepared  to  meet  and 
battle  with  the  acute  diseases  almost  inevitably  before 
them ;  they  are  more  apt  to  contract  disease  than  a 
healthier  child ;  they  are  more  apt  to  die  from  it,  when 
once  contracted,  as  their  resisting  power  is  weakened 
by  their  heredity  and  their  management  since  birth. 

Sociological  Condition. — For  a  number  of  years  I 
have  thought  that  the  greatest  danger  to  the  real  prog- 
ress of  the  colored  people  lies  in  this  sociological  con- 
dition in  the  large  cities.  It  is  difficult,  however,  to 
get  the  facts.  There  is  very  little  attention  given  in 
the  South  to  the  vital  statistics  of  Negroes.  In  fact, 
the  census  is  neither  full  nor  altogether  reliable.  The 
facts,  if  gotten  at  all,  must  be  searched  out  by  conscien- 
tious persons  specially  interested  in  this  kind  of  work. 
Nevertheless,  any  one  who  will  give  the  least  observa- 
tion to  this  matter  will  see  that  the  cities  are  the  hotbeds 
of  crime,  misery  and  death  among  the  colored  people. 
Here  the  people  are  huddled  together,  with  often  two 
or  three  families  in  one  room.  Without  employment 
for  more  than  half  the  time,  they  are  consequently 
insufficiently  fed  and  poorly  clothed.  When  sick  they 
are  unable  either  to  employ  a  physician  or  to  buy 
medicine.  At  least  25  per  cent,  of  them  die  without 
medical  aid. 

Savannah.— In  the  city  of  Savannah,  during  the  year 
1894,  251  colored  persons  died  without  medical  atten- 
tion. This  is  33  ^  per  cent,  of  the  total  number  of 


MORTALITY.  H21 

deaths  among  these  people  for  that  year.  About  60 
per  cent,  of  this  number  of  deaths  were  children  under 
the  age  of  ten.  Twenty-four  thousand  of  the  52,000 
population  of  Savannah  are  Negroes.  Hence,  it  will 
be  seen  that  whatever  affects  these  people  affects  at 
least  nearly  half  the  population  of  our  chief  seaport. 
What  is  true  of  Savannah  I  judge  to  be  approximately 
true  of  all  the  cities  of  Georgia  and  most  of  the  cities 
of  the  South. 

Crime. — The  city  colored  people  drift  into  crime  be- 
cause they  are  idle  and  hungry  far  oftener  than  because 
they  are  purposely  vicious.  All  cities  furnish  far  too 
large  a  proportion  of  crime,  ignorance  and  misery  of  the 
colored  people.  Any  movement,  therefore,  that  will 
bring  to  light  the  facts,  lay  bare  the  causes,  and  stig- 
gest  the  remedies  in  relation  to  this  crime,  misery  and 
death  which  affects  our  people  in  the  cities  will  merit 
universal  applause. 


REV.  WM.  H.  FURNESS, 

One  of  the  foremost  Abolitionists  of  Pennsylvania. 
"Death  is  the  worst  that  can  befall  us,  if  so  be  that  we  are  faithful  to  the 
rifcht." 

21  Progress. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

EDUCATIONAL    IMPROVEMENT. 

Educational    Institutions  —  Industrial   Schools  —  The 
Press. 

"Next  in  importance  to  freedom  and  justice,  is  popu- 
lar education,  without  which  neither  justice  nor  free- 
dom can  be  permanently  maintained/ '-Garfield. 

Bishop  Atticus  Hay  good  says:  "  The  most  unique 
and  altogether  wonderful  chapter  in  the  history  of 
education  is  that  which  tells  the  story  of  the  Negroes 
of  the  South  since  1865." 

Education. — The  great  end  of  education  is  to  prepare 
one  for  usefulness  in  life,  and  the  education  that  does 
not  accomplish  this  is  worse  than  useless.  This  age 
calls  for  practical  men  and  women.  The  man  who 
will  continue  to  sit  at  his  desk,  the  young  woman  who 
will  go  butterfly  chasing  and  then  look  for  the  fulfill- 
ment of  dreams  and  visions,  will  awake  and  find  that 
the  procession  of  progress  has  passed  without  a  dis- 
covering of  the  true  essentials  of  practical  living. 

It  is  vain  to  seek  knowledge  simply  for  the  sake  of 
being  smart,  but  this  practical  age  needs  practical  men. 
Casting  a  boy  adrift  with  a  mind  stored  with  classic 
lore,  but  not  able  to  find  an  honorable  means  of  sup- 
port, is,  as  Julia  Hook  says:  "nothing  less  than  a 
crime,  he  is  a  miserable  failure  as  a  breadwinner. ' ' 
Idleness  and  uselesness  naturally  follow,  crime  and 
poverty  come  next  in  the  train,  crowding  our  peniten- 
tiaries and  swarming  our  houses  of  prostitution. 
Ignorance  of  industries  and  idleness  are  what  cause 
our  people  to  lose  their  patriotism.  The  perpetuity  of 

323 


324  PROGRESS    OF    A    RACE. 

our  national  life  depends  upon  our  knowledge  and  the 
usefulness  of  industrial  pursuits.  We  have  more  need 
of  carpenters  than  of  athletes,  of  educated  farmers 
than  of  professionals.  Industry  is  the  bright  ray  of 
hope.  The  industrial  schools  of  the  South  are  bringing 
us  out  of  ignorance  and  vice,  and  are  making  us  a 
blessing  to  society  and  posterity. 

Not  in  Question.— The  intellectual  development  of 
the  race  is  no  more  in  question.  The  revelations  of 
history  are  indeed  a  reflective  commentary  upon  the 
so-called  intelligence  of  those  who  went  so  far  as  to 
affirm  the  impossibility  of  the  intellectual  improve- 
ment of  the  Negro.  Today  there  may  be  found  many 
brilliant  scholars  in  all  the  institutions  of  learning. 
Ignorance  of  the  historical  and  present  day  facts  is 
inexplicable,  unless  it  be  that  American  prejudice  has 
decreed  what  should  be  known  and  what  left  unknown. 
These  adverse  views  must  be  treated  with  the  defer- 
ence that  extreme  antiquity,  without  the  adjunct  of 
intelligence,  deserves.  The  truth  remains,  seen  or 
unseen,  that  the  Negro  has  a  right  and  title  to  the 
citizenship  of  the  republic  of  thought. 

No  Higher  Duty. — Gov.  Atkinson  says:  " There  is 
no  higher  duty  resting  upon  the  governors  of  the 
Southern  states  than  to  advance  the  education  of  the 
people  of  the  state  without  regard  to  color.  If  any 
doubt  that  the  colored  man  can  be  educated  exists,  it 
will  all  be  dispelled  by  attending  the  commencements 
of  the  colleges  for  the  colored. ' ' 

Education  Improves. — Every  one  competent  to  speak 
and  honest  enough  to  be  candid  knows  that  education 
benefits  and  improves  the  Negro.  It  improves  his 
morals,  his  character,  and  his  usefulness.  It  makes 
him  a  better  man  and  a  better  citizen,  a  better  neigh- 


EDUCATIONAL   IMPROVEMENT.  325 

and  a  better  workman,  no  matter  what  you  put 
him  at.  The  slave-owners  learned  that  it  paid  to  take 
good  care  of  their  slaves  and  the  people  of  the  South 
will  learn  that  it  pays  to  educate  their  Negro  employes. 
Above  all  things,  education  of  the  Negro  diminishes 
if  it  does  not  totally  banish  all  danger  of  race  conflict 
and  trouble. 

Knowledge  Not  a  Substitute  for  Virtue.-— Hear 
what  Dr.  Hay  good  says:  "No  theory  of  imiversal  edu- 
cation entertained  by  a  rational  people  proposes  knowl- 
edge as  a  substitute  for  virtue,  or  virtue  a  substitute  for 
knowledge.  Both  are  necessary.  Without  virtue  knowl- 
edge is  unreliable  and  dangerous;  without  knowledge 
virtue  is  blind  and  impotent."  "I  must  say  a  word  in 
defense, "  says  the  same  authority,  *'of  the  Negroes,  par- 
ticularly those  living  in  the  Southern  states.  Considering 
the  antecedents  of  the  race  in  Africa,  in  those  states  be- 
fore the  emancipation,  and  their  condition  today,  the  real 
surprise  is  that  there  is  so  much  virtue  and  purity 
among  them.  Above  all  things,  let  the  white  people 
set  them  better  examples.  Since  progress  has  already 
been  made  in  this  direction,  we  are  permitted  to  hope 
that  education  will  continue  its  beneficent  work  in  this 
moral  reformation  of  the  people.  Education  will  cer- 
tainly afford  a  better  knowledge  of  the  duties  of  the 
home,  a  keener  appreciation  of  the  obligation  of  the  mar- 
riage state,  a  more  consistent  regard  for  the  rights  and 
the  property  of  others,  and  a  clearer  conception  of  what 
virtue  in  womanhood  signifies,  and,  therefore,  a  more 
determined  purpose  and  means  of  defending  that  honor 
from  the  assaults  of  any  man,  even  at  the  very  risk  of 
their  lives." 

Color  Blind. — President  Ware,  of  the  Atlanta  Univer- 
sity, was  one  of  the  early  workers  in  the  educational 


326  PROGRESS   OF    A   RACE. 

field  among  the  Negroes.  On  one  occasion,  being  ser- 
iously asked  by  a  Southern  white  man  how,  with  all  his 
culture  and  qualifications,  he  could  content  himself  to 
live  and  labor  among  the  blacks,  he  tersely  replied: 
4  *  Oh,  I  can  easily  explain  that.  I'm  simply  color-blind. ' ' 

Appreciating  Advantages. — * '  Talks  for  the  Times' ' 
says:  "Last  year,  in  the  four  institutions  of  higher 
learning,  established  in  Atlanta  by  Northern  benevo- 
lence, there  were,  in  round  numbers,  twelve  hundred 
students.  Of  these,  Atlanta  University  enrolled  310; 
Clark  University,  222;  the  Baptist  Seminary  for  Males, 
about  140,  and  the  Baptist  Seminary  for  Females,  500. 
But  Atlanta  is  only  one  of  the  great  centers  of  educa- 
tion in  the  South.  There  is  Nashville,  literally  girdled 
by  institutions;  there  is  New  Orleans — in  fact,  you 
will  find  today,  «in  every  Southern  state,  one  or  more 
institutions  for  the  higher  training  of  Negro  youth ;  and 
the  very  fact  that  all  these  institutions  are  more  or  less 
crowded  yearly,  and  the  very  fact  that  frequent  appeal 
goes  out  from  them  to  Christian  philanthropy  for  more 
buildings,  for  increased  accommodations,  are  proof  con- 
clusive, I  think,  that  the  Negro  not  only  appreciates  the 
advantages  held  out  to  him,  but  is  also  exerting  himself 
to  enjoy  them." 

Civilization  Progressing. — Dr.  Ruffner,  for  many 
years  superintendent  of  public  instruction  for  the  state 
of  Virginia,  in  one  of  his  reports  a  few  years  ago,  bore 
this  testimony  to  the  credit  of  the  Negro:  "He  wants 
to  do  right  and  is  the  most  amiable  of  races.  The 
Negro  craves  education,  and  I  believe  his  desire  has 
increased ;  it  certainly  has  not  diminished.  He  makes 
fully  as  great  sacrifices  to  send  his  children  to  school  as 
the  laboring  classes  of  the  whites.  The  civilization  of 
the  race  is  progressing,  and  even  faster  than  his  thought- 
ful friends  anticipated. ' ' 


EDUCATIONAL    IMPROVEMENT.  327 

Trained  Minds. — At  the  2$oih  anniversary  of  Har- 
vard College,  a  profound  student  of  public  affairs, 
James  Russell  Lowell,  in  a  famous  address,  said: 
"What  we  need  more  than  anything1  else  is  to  increase 
the  number  of  thoroughly  trained  minds,  for  these, 
wherever  they  go,  are  sure  to  ca*ry  with  them,  con- 
sciously or  not,  the  seeds  of  sounder  thinking  and  of 
higher  ideals.  The  only  way  in  which  our  civilization 
can  be  maintained,  even  at  the  level  it  has  reached — the 
only  way  in  which  that  level  can  be  made  more  general 
and  be  raised  higher — is  by  bringing  the  influence  of  the 
more  cultivated  to  bear  with  greater  energy  and  direct- 
ness on  the  less  ciiltivated,  and  by  opening  more  inlets 
which  make  for  refinement  of  mind  and  body."  This 
is  the  testimony  that  runs  along  the  history  of  educa- 
tion. Our  New  England  fathers  cherished  soiind  learn- 
ing for  Christianity's  sake. 

Wisdom. — But  if  this  is  wisdom,  and  continues  to  be 
an  ever-present  necessity  for  people  who  have  cherished 
higher  education  for  centuries,  not  less  is  it  wisdom  and 
necessity  for  a  race  undeveloped,  where  the  need  of  this 
affiliation  of  learning  and  religion  is  absolute.  No  people 
can  rise  who  are  shut  in  to  limited  and  partial  privileges. 

Higher  Institutions. — Indeed,  except  for  higher  insti- 
tutions, the  public  school  system  of  the  South  for  the 
colored  people  could  not  be  carried  on  with  any  degree 
of  worthiness.  But  the  public  schools  did  not  exhaust 
our  reasons  for  our  higher  institutions.  Our  reasons 
are  in  our  pulpits.  They  are  in  necessary  professions. 
They  are  found  among  the  bankers  and  builders  and 
editors  and  printers.  They  are  rapidly  raising  the  rank 
of  their  race.  This  is  very  practical ;  for,  when  we  con- 
sider the  question  of  practicability  in  the  salvation  and 
elevation  of  a  people,  we  realize  that  our  fathers  were 


828  PROGRESS  OF   A   RACE. 

right  to  conclude  that  the  idea  of  education  is  short- 
sighted and  bad  which  considers  knowledge  to  be  prac- 
tical only  as  it  can  be  made  at  once  to  grind  corn,  or 
can  be  measured  by  merely  materialistic  values. 

Practicability. — Accepting  the  fact  of  the  decrees 
which  decide  the  capacities  of  men  and  their  limitations, 
so  that  the  rank  and  file  must  be  prepared  for  and 
engage  in  manual  labor  of  some  kind,  it  remains  true 
that  those  who  can  impregnate  the  minds  of  people 
about  them,  who  can  quicken  their  thoughts,  who  can 
rouse  lower  intellects  and  energize  them,  who  can 
change  their  low  views  to  higher  ones  and  give  larger 
and  truer  ideas  of  life  and  the  world,  here  and  hereafter, 
and  make  their  lives  more  vital  with  thought  for  daily- 
wants  and  uses,  will  be  found  to  have  a  very  practical 
education. 

Thinkers. — Moreover,  by  forces  not  material  are  the 
material  forces  penetrated  and  stirred.  When  we  see 
how  the  thoughts  of  men  are  harnessed  into  service  in 
the  places  of  industry  then  we  understand  that  there  is 
no  arithmetic  with  figtires  enough  to  compute  the  mere 
money- value  of  the  thoughts  which  are  the  secrets  of 
materialistic  accomplishment.  In  education  we  cannot 
forget  that  the  world's  advance  in  wealth,  as  in  every- 
thing else,  comes  from  those  who  know  how  to  think, 
and  that  those  who  develop  the  thinkers  develop  the 
workers.  The  greater  the  intellectual  wealth  of  a 
people,  the  greater  will  be  the  aggregate  of  materialistic 
wealth,  and  the  developed  material  prosperity  will 
come  more  rapidly  and  surely  with  better  developed 
men. 

Needs  of  Today. — Low-grade  men  are  content  with 
low-grade  things.  Along  all  the  lines  of  materialistic 
development  the  great  need  of  the  Negro  people  today 


EDUCATIONAL  IMPROVEMENT.  829 

is  men  of  trained  thought,  thinking  men,  men  of  larger 
vision,  and  more  comprehensive  minds,  who  can  and 
will  uplift  and  establish  the  material  as  well  as  the  intel- 
lectual and  spiritual  standard  of  the  race.  Therefore 
we  are  confident  that  the  shortest  path  in  the  develop- 
ment of  the  colored  people  is  in  the  more  perfect  devel- 
opment of  their  intelligence,  in  the  more  complete  com- 
mand of  their  mental  powers.  With  this  there  comes  a 
better  industry  in  their  habits,  fox  ignorance  and  indo- 
lence are  twins.  We  know  also  that  all  experience 
stands  back  of  this  knowledge — that  a  low  mental  life 
tends  to  a  low  moral  life,  and  that  both  of  these  con- 
ditions are  a  natural  prey  for  oppressors  and  for  all  who 
do  not  wish  to  do  justly. 

Equal  Opportunities. — The  African  has  a  right  to  an 
equal  opportunity  with  every  other  man  to  show  what 
his  competence  is.  This  seed  will  not  sprout,  you  say. 
Of  course  it  will  not  sprout  if  you  leave  it  in  the  drawer. 
Put  it  in  the  same  soil  with  that  other  seed;  let  the  same 
sun  shine  upon  it;  let  the  same  rain  fall  upon  it,  and 
then  see  whether  it  will  sprout  or  not.  What  wre 
demand  for  the  colored  man  is  that  all  doors  shall  be 
opened  to  him,  all  opportunities  freely  offered  to  him, 
the  right  and  the  liberty  of  industry  given  to  him.  We 
protest  against  a  system  which  puts  the  wall  of  reserva- 
tion about  the  Negro,  which  denies  him  the  fundamental 
rights  of  a  free  man,  the  right  of  locomotion,  the  right 
to  buy  in  the  cheapest  market  and  sell  in  the  highest 
market,  the  right  to  dispose  of  his  goods  wherever  he 
can.  We  protest  against  a  system  which  builds  a  wall 
around  any  portion  of  our  American  people  and  con- 
fines them  as  paupers  and  classes  them  with  other  paup- 
ers. If  we  were  to  take  a  dozen  young  men  and  women 
under  twenty-one  years  of  age  out  of  Boston  and  shut 


EDUCATIONAL    IMPROVEMENT.  331 

them  up  in  some  great  wilderness  and  were  to  say  to 
them, <4  You  shall  not  own  the  products  of  your  industry, 
you  shall  not  sell  them  in  the  markets  of  the  world,  you 
shall  not  have  free  access  to  the  telegraph  and  the  press, 
you  shall  not  know  what  is  going  on  in  the  world ;  but 
we  will  put  a  mission  chapel  and  a  mission  school  here 
and  there,  and  if  you  do  not  work  we  will  feed  you. ' ' 
How  long  would  it  take  for  them  to  become  tramps  and 
paupers.  We  claim  for  the  African  absolute  and  equal 
opportunities  with  the  white  man — the  same  door  as 
widely  open,  the  same  avenues  as  free,  the  same  wages 
for  the  same  labor,  the  same  chance  to  prove  his  man- 
hood in  industrial  relations. 

Equal  Political  Rights. — This  docs  not  mean  uni- 
versal suffrage,  but  it  does  mean  the  same  conditions 
of  suffrage  to  the  man  of  one  color  as  to  the  man  of 
another  color.  The  question  whether  there  shall  be  a 
property  qualification  or  not  is  a  very  fair  question,  but 
if  there  be  such  a  qualification  it  must  be,  under  any 
just  and  equitable  system  of  government,  the  same  for 
one  race  as  for  another.  The  law  which  says  to  a 
thrifty  Negro,  "You  shall  not  vote,"  and  to  a  thriftless 
white  man,  "You  shall  vote,"  is  unjust  and  inequitable. 
The  law  which  provides  one  kind  of  educational  quali- 
fications for  one  because  his  skin  is  tanned,  and  another 
for  the  man  whose  skin  is  not  tanned,  is  unfair  and 
unjust.  We  stand  for  equal  rights  in  this  republic  of 
republics. 

Equal  Facilities  and  Stimulus. — The  Negro  race 
must  have  the  same  educational  and  religious  facilities 
and  the  same  stimulus  to  intellectual  and  moral  growth, 
and  any  scheme  of  education  which  purposes  to  furnish 
the  Negro  race  only  with  manual  and  industrial  educa- 
tion is  a  sly  contrivance  for  putting  him  in  serfdom ;  it 


332  PROGRESS   OF    A    RACE. 

tacitly  says  that  the  Negro  is  the  inferior  of  the  white 
race,  and  therefore  we  will  educate  him  so  as  to  serve 
us.  The  race  must  have  an  education  which  in  its  final 
outcome  shall  be  complete,  and  which  shall  open  oppor- 
tunities for  the  highest  culture  of  which  any  individual 
of  that  race  is  capable. 

Duty  of  the  Government.— Judge  Gunby  says :  "The 
failure  of  the  Federal  government  to  educate  the  slaves 
they  mad^e  freemen  is  a  shame  and  a  disgrace,  a  scarlet 
letter  on  the  garb  of  our  history,  a  stigma  which,  like 
the  damned  spot  that  soiled  the  little  hand  of  Lady  Mac- 
beth, will  never  wash  out  until  the  wrong  has  been  re- 
paired. ' ' 

Slavery  at  the  Bottom. — President  Price  says  that 
slavery,  as  a  system,  degraded  the  Negro  to  the  level  of 
the  brute,  because  it  denied  him  the  untrammeled  exer- 
cise of  all  the  instincts  of  a  higher  and  better  manhood. 
It  recognized  no  moral  sensibility  in  man  or  woman, 
regarded  no  sacred  and  inviolable  relation  between  hus- 
band and  wife,  sundered  at  will  or  caprice  the  tenderest 
ties  that  the  human  heart  is  capable  of  forming  or  the 
human  mind  is  able  to  conceive.  Such  a  system  had 
the^ support  of  the  highest  tribunal  of  men,  and  even  the 
representatives  of  the  church  of  God  came  to  its  rescue 
and  defense,  with  all  the  weight  of  its  divine  authority 
and  power.  From  the  maternal  knee,  the  table,  the 
family  altar,  the  forum,  and  the  pulpit  was  the  lesson 
taught  that  the  person  of  sable  hue  and  curly  hair  was 
a  doomed,  and  therefore  an  inferior  race — not  entitled 
to  a  place  in  the  brotherhood  of  men.  This  impression, 
made  on  childhood's  plastic  nature,  grew  with  his 
growth,  and  strengthened  with  the  power  of  increasing 
years. 

Power  of  Law. — To  deepen  the  blot,  and  intensify 


EDUCATIONAL    IMPROVEMENT.  333 

the  damning  heresy,  the  law  of  the  land  wrote  him 
down  a  chattel,  that  is,  cattle,  and  forbade  the  training 
of  the  mhld  and  the  culture  of  the.  heart,  by  making 
learning,  on  his  part,  and  teaching  on  the  part  of 
others,  a  crime.  It  is  not  surprising,  then,  that  men. 
brought  up  in  the  face  of  such  a  system  for  two  hun- 
dred and  fifty  years  should  be  skeptical  as  to  the  real 
manhood  of  the.  Negro,  and  hesitate  to  give  him  a  place 
in  the  one-blood  family. 

Prejudice. — The  feeling  against  the  Negro  which 
helps  to  make  our  race  problem  is  called  prejudice, 
and  it  is  not  without  some  grounds.  For  two  hundred 
and  fifty  years  the  white  man  of  the  South  saw  only 
the  animal,  or  mechanical,  side  of  the  Negro.  Wher- 
ever, he  looked,  there  was  degradation,  ignorance, 
superstition,  darkness,  and  nothing  more,  as  he  thought. 
The  man  was  overshadowed  and  concealed  by  the 
debasing  appetites  and  destructive  and  avaricious  pas- 
sion of  the  animal;  therefore,  the  race  problem  of 
today  is  not  an  anomaly,  it  is  the  natural  and  logical 
product  of  an  environment  of  centuries. 

Key  to  Problem. — Now,  if  ignorance,  poverty  and 
moral  degradation  are  the  grounds  of  the  objection 
against  the  Negro,  it  is  not  difficult  to  discover  that  the 
knotty  elements  of  the  race  problem  are  the  intellectual, 
moral,  and  material  conditions  of  the  Negro  race.  It 
is  reasonable,  therefore,  to  suppose  that  if  we  can  find 
the  means  that  will  change  these  conditions,  we  have 
found  a  key  tc  the  problem,  and  gone  a  great  distance 
towards  its  satisfactory  solution.  Of  course,  none  of  us 
would  dare  argue  that  intelligence,  or  even  education, 
is  a  panacea  for  all  the  ills  of  mankind ;  for,  even  when 
educated,  a  Nero,  a  Robespierre,  a  Benedict  Arnold, 
an  absconding  state  treasurer,  or  a  New  York  sneak- 
thief,  would  not  necessarily  be  impossibilities. 


334  PROGRESS  OF  A  RACE, 

Not  by  Magic  Spell. — I  do  not  argue  that  increased 
intelligence  or  multiplied  facilities  for  edvication  will, 
by  some  magic  spell,  transform  the  Negro  into  the 
symmetry,  grace  and  beauty  of  a  Grecian  embodiment 
of  excellence.  It  is  certainly  not  my  humble  task  to 
attempt  to  prove  that  'education  will,  in  a  day,  or  a 
decade,  or  a  century,  rid  the  black  men  of  all  the  phys- 
ical peculiarities  and  deformities,  moral  perversions 
and  intellectual  distortions  which  are  the  debasing 
and  logical  heritage  of  more  than  two  and  a  half  cen- 
turies of  enslavement. 

Education  the  Best  Means.— It  is,  nevertheless, 
reasonable  to  presume  that,  admitting  the  ordinary 
human  capabilities  of  the  race,  which  no  sane  and  fair- 
minded  man  will  deny,  it  can  be  readily  and  justly 
predicted  that  if  the  same  forces  applied  to  other  races 
are  applied  to  the  Negro,  and  these  forces  are  governed 
by  the  same  eternal  and  incontrovertible  principles, 
they  will  produce  corresponding  results  and  make  the 
Negro  as  acceptable  to  the  brotherhood  of  men  as  any 
other  race  laying  claims  to  the  instinct  of  our  common 
humanity.  I  believe  that  education,  in  the  full  sense 
of  the  term,  is  the  most  efficient  and  comprehensive 
means  to  this  end,  because  in  its  results  an  answer  is 
to  be  found  to  all  the  leading  objections  against  the 
Negro  which  enter  into  the  make-up  of  the  so-called 
race  problem. 

Good  Government  Implies  Intelligence.— Dr.  A.  G. 
Haygood,  of  Georgia,  in  his  " Pleas  for  Progress,"  says: 
' '  Good  government  implies  intelligence,  and  universal 
suffrage  demands  universal  education. ' '  It  cannot  now 
be  said,  as  it  was  fifty  years  ago,  that  a  Negro  cannot 
be  educated.  The  history  of  education  among  the 
colored  people  for  a  quarter  of  a  century  does  not  con- 


EDUCATIONAL   IMPROVEMENT.  335 

firm  the  statement.  The  noble  men  and  women  who 
went  into  the  South  as  missionaries,  and  felt  their  way 
through' the  sraoke  of  battle  and  stepped  over  crimson 
battle-fields  and  among  the  wounded  and  the  dying  to 
bring  intelligence  to  the  Negroes,  were  taunted  as 
going  on  a  fool's  errand.  But  the  tens  of  thousands  of 
young  men  and  women  in  the  schools  of  high  grade 
established  by  Northern  service  and  philanthropy — a 
million  Negro  children  in  the  public  schools  in  the 
South — are  an  imperishable  monument  to  the  wisdom 
of  their  action.  I  again  quote  from  Dr.  Haygood,  who 
is  an  authority  on  this  subject:  "All  told,  fully  fifty 
millions  of  dollars  have  gone  into  the  work  of  their 
(Negroes')  education  since  1865."  Of  this  fifty  mil- 
lions, more  than  half  has  been  Southern  money.  The 
Negroes  have  made  more  progress  in  elementary  and 
other  education  during  the  twenty- three  years  than  any 
other  illiterate  people  in  the  world,  and  they  have  justi- 
fied the  philanthropy  and  public  policy  that  made  the 
expenditure. 

Whites  Must  Also  Be  Educated. — President  Price 
aptly  says  that  it  must  be  remembered,  however,  that 
more  is  to  be  done  than  the  education  of  the  blacks, 
as  a  solution  of  the  race  problem ;  for  much  of  the 
stubbornness  of  the  question  is  involved  in  the  ignorant, 
lawless  and  vicious  whites  of  the  South,  who  need 
education  worse  that  many  of  the  blacks.  To  educate 
one  race  and  neglect  the  other  is  to  leave  the  problem 
half  solved,  for  there  is  a  class  in  the  South  to  some 
extent  more  degraded  and  hopeless  in  their  mental 
and  moral  condition  than  the  Negro.  This  is  the  class 
to  which  many  of  the  actual  outrages  are  more  attrib- 
utable than  to  any  other  class.  Educate  these  as  well 
as  the  blacks,  and  our  problem  is  shorn  of  its  strength. 


336  PROGRESS   OF    A    RACE. 

When  we  call  to  mind  the  fact  that  70  per  cent,  of 
the  colored  vote  in  the  South  is  illiterate,  and  30 
per  cent,  of  the  white  vote  is  in  the  same  condition,  it  is 
not  difficult  for  one  to  discern  that  education  of  the 
blacks  and  whites  as  well  is  not  only  necessary  for  the 
solution  of  the  race  problem,  and  for  good  government, 
but  for  the  progress  and  prosperity  of  that  section 
where  such  illiteracy  obtains.  For  the  safety  of  the 
republic,  the  perpetuity  of  its  glory  and  the  stability 
of  its  institutions  are  commensurate,  and  only  com- 
mensurate, with  the  intelligence  and  morality  of  its  citi- 
zens, whether  they  be  white  men  or  black  men.  It  is 
sometimes  harder  to  educate  out  of  prejudice  than  out  of 
ignorance. 

Wealth-Producer. — The  Negro  is  a  wealth-producer 
now.  Whether  he  reaps  all  the  benefits  of  his  labor  or 
not,  it  is  clear  that  he  is  the  prime  element  in  the  grow- 
ing and  boasted  prosperity  of  the  South.  The  late 
Henry  W.  Grady  said,  just  before  his  death,  that  the 
Negroes  in  his  state  (Georgia)  paid  taxes  on  twenty 
million  dollars'  worth  of  property,  and  that  the  Negroes 
in  the  South  contribute  a  billion  dollars'  worth  of  prod- 
ucts every  year  to  the  material  prosperity  of  that 
section.  The  Atlanta  Constitution,  speaking  of  the 
Negroes  in  Texas,  said  recently  that  they  own  a  million 
acres  of  land  and  pay  taxes  on  twenty  million  dollars 
worth  of  property,  have  2,000  churches,  2,000  benevo- 
lent associations,  10  high  schools,  3,000  teachers,  23 
doctors,  15  lawyers,  100  merchants,  500  mechanics,  15 
newspapers,  hundreds  of  farmers  and  stockmen,  and 
several  inventors.  Now,  these  two  states  are  but  sam- 
ples of  the  wealth-producing  results  of  twenty-five 
years'  labor.  If  this  has  been  their  progress  when  it 
is  admitted  they  have  been  under  the  hampering  and 


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EDUCATIONAL    IMPROVEMENT.  83? 

retarding  influences  of  ignorance,  not  to  speak  of  other 
disadvantages,  it  is  fair  to  assume  that  under  the  stim- 
ulus of  intelligence  they  will  do  a  hundredfold  more, 
and  year  by  year  and  decade  by  decade  change  their 
poverty-stricken  state,  and  thus  remove  another  element 
in  the  problem,  and  thereby  hasten  its  solution. 

Race  Pride. — There  seems  to  be  quite  as  strong  an 
affinity  for  their  own  race  developed  among  the  colored 
people,  as  a  result  of  the  improvement  in  their  condi- 
tion, as  among  the  whites.  This  improvement  of  both 
implies  purity  of  race  blood,  combined  with  the  recogni- 
tion of  legal  and  political  equality. 

This  is  manifest,  not  in  the  relations  alone,  but  in 
almost  everything.  Probably  it  would  be  found  quite 
as  difficult  to  bring  the  colored  people  to  consent  to  the 
substitution  of  mixed  for  separate  churches  and  schools 
in  the  South  as  to  reconcile  the  other  race  to  the 
change. 

The  Question. — The  "race  problem"  in  our  country 
includes  not  merely  the  question,  What  shall  the  white 
man  do  with  the  Negro?  There  is  another,  still  more 
serious:  What  shall  the  Negro  do  with  the  white  man? 

The  colored  people  number  nearly,  if  not  quite,  ten 
millions — one- sixth  of  our  population.  They  are  pos- 
sessed with  a  certain  form  of  independence,  which  is 
beyond  the  reach  of  adverse  laws  and  unkindly  sur- 
roundings, and  which  cannot  be  taken  from  them 
without  their  consent  to  it — the  independence  which 
comes  of  subjection  to  fewer  wants  than  press  upon  the 
white  people  who  are  about  them,  and  who  compose  the 
balance  of  the  nation.  If  they  get  but  little,  they  have 
the  advantage  of  being  able  to  go  without.  Their 
mental,  spiritual  and  physical  wants  are  few,  because 
of  their  lack  of  development.  If  they  are  ignorant, 

22  Progress. 


EDUCATIONAL    IMPROVEMENT.  330 

they  are  accustomed  to  the  consequences  of  ignorance ; 
and  if  they  are  deprived  of  their  rights,  they  have  the 
advantage  of  having  been  slaves  from  the  beginning. 

But,  on  the  other  hand,  it  does  not  go  so  easy  with 
the  white  race,  who  compose  the  larger  factor  of  the 
American  people.  If  the  wants  of  the  Negro  are  few, 
on  the  contrary,  those  of  the  white  man  are  many ;  and, 
as  in  the  struggle  for  life  the  opportunity  to  labor  and 
to  produce  is  the  opportunity  to  live — for  only  by  pro- 
ducing something  to  sell  can  any  one  buy  and  thus  pro- 
cure the  means  of  satisfying  wants — it  follows  that  if 
the  man  with  few  wants  can  get  the  work,  he  has  the 
advantage  of  the  man  with  many  wants,  who  must 
suffer  in  being  deprived  of  his  purchasing  power. 

Power  of  Education. — "The  same  light  lighteth 
every  man  that  cometh  into  the  world. ' '  Says  Henry  W. 
Blair:  "Education is  the  solution  of  the  Southern  prob- 
lem ;  education  is  the  solution  of  the  Northern  problem ; 
education  is  the  solution  of  the  problem  of  all  human 
advancement.  Right  education  of  the  physical,  mental 
and  spiritual  powers  of  each  individual  will  perfect 
society,  and  nothing  else  will  do  it. 

"Five  hundred  thousand  teachers,  who  constitute 
the  great  profession  in  our  country,  are  solving  the 
difficulties  which  environ  the  nation. 

"True,  there  be  other  agencies — the  church,  the 
press,  and  the  influences  of  the  daily  contact  of  life. 

"But  the  work  of  the  teacher  is  fundamental,  and  is 
necessary,  in  order  that  intelligence  may  criticise  creed 
and  prevent  religion  from  degenerating  into  supersti- 
tion; in  order  that  the  press  may  perform  its  work  at 
all,  and  that  daily  contact  with  others  may  not  simply 
reproduce  in  coming  generations  the  imperfect  envi- 
ronment of  the  present. 


340  PROGRESS   OF    A    RACE. 

"The  public  school  system  is  the  only  hope,  in  the 
sense  that  it  is  the  great  creative  and  saving  institution 
of  the  republic.  The  general  diffusion  of  knowledge, 
intelligence  and  virtue  made  us  a  republic. ' ' 

The  Public  School  System.— The  public  school  sys- 
tem is  the  army  which  wages  everlasting  war  upon 
ignorance  and  all  whose  victories  are  peace. 

Taxation  by  the  public  must  be  for  the  general  good, 
and  of  necessity  results  in  the  public  school,  without 
which  at  least  one-half  of  the  property  of  the  country 
would  escape  its  just  contribution  to  the  education  of 
the  people,  and  not  less  than  one-half  the  children 
would  grow  up  in  ignorance,  by  reason  of  the  poverty 
of  those  who,  while  they  have  produced  life,  may  not 
have  made  money. 

The  Outlay  of  Money  and  means  for  the  education 
of  the  Negro  during  the  last  twenty-five  years  has  ex- 
ceeded that  of  all  the  centuries  of  his  enslavement.  It 
is  estimated  that  the  Southern  states  have  expended  for 
his  education  $5 5, ooo, ooo,  and  the  Northern  states  $20,- 
000,000,  making  a  total  from  the  states  of  $75,000,000. 

Number  of  Institutions.— Among  the  public  and  pri- 
vate institutions  set  apart  for  this  purpose,  there  were, 
in  1891,  52  normal  and  industrial  schools  maintained 
by  the  states  and  by  various  religious  denominations, 
having  10,000  students;  25  denominational  and  non- 
denominational  universities  and  colleges,  having  8,00® 
students;  47  institutions  for  secondary  instructions, 
having  12,000  students;  25  schools  in  theology,  having 
700  students;  5  schools  of  law,  with  100  students;  5 
schools  of  medicine, 'with  240  students;  all,  with  two 
exceptions,  located  in  the  states  formerly  known  as 
slave  states.  Besides  these,  there  are  in  the  South  16 
schools  receiving  both  state  and  federal  aid,  and  offer- 


EDUCATIONAL   IMPROVEMENT.  341 

ing  to  the  colored  youth  industrial  and  agricultural 
training,  having  about  2,500  students. 

Twenty-five  Years. —  Said  the  Honorable  William 
B.  Webb,  District  Commissioner,  having  in  charge  the 
schools  of  the  District  of  Columbia,  in  presenting  the 
certificates  of  graduation  to  the  graduating  class: 
"Twenty-fire  years  ago  colored  men  were  not  allowed 
upon  the  streets  of  the  city  of  Washington  after  sun- 
down without  passes.  Twenty-five  years  ago  I,  myself, 
as  Superintendent  of  Metropolitan  Police,  issued  passes 
permitting  colored  persons  to  be  found  on  the  streets 
after  sundown  in  the  city  of  Washington.  Tonight  I 
am  permitted,  and  I  assure  you  it  is  no  small  pleasure 
to  me,  to  give  young  colored  people,  not  unlikely  the 
soms  and  daughters  of  those  to  whom  I  issued  passes 
twenty-five  years  ago,  certificates  showing  that  you 
Have  completed  a  course  of  instructions,  including  that 
of  the  high  school,  provided  for  the  young  people  of 
the  District  of  Columbia,  white  and  colored  alike." 

Profitable  Work.— Prof.  W.  B.  Powell  says:  "  The 
colored  people  should  be  educated  as  other  people  are 
educated,  but  the  beginnings  of  such  education  should 
be  wisely  determined.  They  must  be  made  industrious. 
I  have  said  they  are  not  idle,  but  to  be  made  industrious 
they  must  be  taught  to  work  profitably.  They  must  be 
made  provident ;  to  do  this  they  must  be  trained  in  the 
arts  and  processes  of  economy.  They  must  be  taught 
the  meaning  and  value  of  thrift ;  to  accomplish  this  they 
must  learn  to  work  intelligently,  to  plan  economically, 
and  patiently  to  wait.  They  must  learn  the  value  of 
the  investment  of  labor,  and  patience  and  faith,  and 
waiting. 

Practical  Training. — These  valuable  qualifications 
come  not  through  books  or  letters  alone ;  they  come  by 


342  PROGRESS   OF    A    RACE. 

doing.  So  while  I  would  say,  teach  the  colored  youth 
in  and  of  books,  I  say,  emphatically,  train  him  also  in 
the  arts  and  processes  of  agriculture  and  gardening,  and 
train  him  in  these  while  he  is  learning  to  read ;  thus 
will  he  learn  to  do  both  better.  Train  him  in  the  proc- 
ess of  the  most  useful  mechanical  arts,  and  let  him  get 
this  training  contemporaneous  with  the  acquirement  of 
his  primary  scholastic  education ;  train  him  in  the  arts 
and  processes  of  barter  and  sale,  and  let  this  be  done 
while  he  is  taking  his  first  steps  in  reading  and  arith- 
metic; thus,  becoming  a  man  of  affairs,  his  scholastic 
training  will  be  intelligible  to  him. 

A  .supervisor  (a  colored  man,  graduate  of  the  Ver- 
mont State  Normal  School),  having  in  charge  a 
hundred  schools,  when  asked  what  he  would  do  to 
educate  the  colored  race  if  he  were  given  authority  to 
act  and  the  disposition  of  the  money  now  expended  on 
their  education,  replied,  that  he  would  foster  the  lower 
graded  schools,  but  instead  of  the  colleges  and  high 
schools  he  would  establish  agricultural  and  trade 
schools,  and  perhaps  more  normal  schools. 

Academic  Instruction. — Academic  instruction  alone 
never  reached  such  results;  it  never  can.  I  am  not 
discussing  the  question  of  manual  training;  I  am  talk- 
ing about  the  education  of  a  people  who  know  how  to 
do  a  very  little  in  harmony  with  the  governing  -civiliza- 
tion on  this  continent.  Our  civilization  represents,  in 
the  process  of  its  growth,  all  the  qualifications  for  which 
I  plead.  They  cannot  be  omitted  in  the  growth  of  any 
people.  They  cannot  be  transmitted  from  one  people 
to  another  by  any  process  of  philanthropic  endeavor  or 
legal  enactment.  The  people  who  would  have  the 
growth  must  themselves  do  the  growing. 

The  Great  Danger  of  academic  education  for  the 


EDUCATIONAL   IMPROVEMENT,  843 

colored  youth  as  now  given  by  the  schools  in  their 
developed  condition,  successful  and  brilliant  as  it  is,  is 
that  it  leads  them  away  from  the  bread- winning  pur- 
suits of  life,  which  must  necessarily  be  the  lot  of  the 
great  mass  of  them  as  it  is  of  us  all.  This  must  be  so 
while  their  manual  pursuits  are  so  rude  and  uninterest- 
ing. Unless  the  colored  youth  are  made  to  know  and 
feel  that  successes  in  manual  labor  are  respectable  and 
honorable,  as  honorable  as  purely  scholastic  successes, 
and  unless  they  are  made  acquainted  with,  and  given 
skill  in,  modern  industrial  arts  and  appliances,  their 
education  will  be  to  them  a  source  of  restlessness  and 
discontent,  and  may  be  to  the  community  a  source  of 
danger.  This  is  not  true  because  of  their  color. 

The  New  England  Farmer  Boy  did  not  learn  to 
despise  his  home  work  by  attending  school  three  or 
four  months  in  the  winter.  He  was  learning,  under 
the  skillful  management  of  the  father,  more  and  more 
rapidly,  at  home  than  he  learned  at  school.  What  he 
learned  at  school  was  only  an  additional  acquisition  that 
helped  him  in  his  home  work.  His  chief  learning  was 
at  home.  The  daughter  of  the  colonial  days  made  her 
chief  acquisitions  at  home  under  the  skillful  manage- 
ment of  the  mother,  where  she  learned  to  spin  and 
weave  and  darn  and  patch.  Her  school  life  added 
accomplishments  to  these  useful  arts,  and  made  her 
more  intelligent  and  useful. 

Only  Means  of  Growth. — The  school  is  to  the 
colored  youth  of  whom  I  speak  his  only  place  of  learn- 
ing. He  learns  nothing  at  home;  nobody  is  competent 
to  teach  him  advantageously ;  he  learns  nothing  from 
his  neighbors;  nobody  with  whom  he  associates  does 
anything  better  than  he  finds  it  done  in  his  own  home. 
lie  comes  to  look  on  the  school,  therefore,  as  the  only 


344 


PROGRESS   OF    A   RACE. 


means  of  growth,  as  the  only  means  of  bettering  his 
condition;  he  comes  to  look  on  school  and  scholastic 
acquisition  as  the  only  means  by  which  he  can  become 


PROF.  J.   L.  MURRAY. 

Principal  Normal  School,  Albany,  Georgia. 
(Graduate  of  Fisk  University.) 

respectable  and  grow  to  be  like  the  white  man.  Will 
he  not  learn  to  despise  labor?  This  is  a  new  view  of 
life,  its  possibilities  and  opportunities,  that  means 
defeat  to  the  race  that  holds  it,  that  is  fraught  with 
danger  to  the  community.  This  may  all  be  avoided  by 


EDUCATIONAL  IMPROVEMENT.  845 

trainings  the  hand  and  the  mind  simultaneously  and 
proportionally.  If  the  colored  man  has  not  been  so 
trained,  it  is  not  his  fault ;  it  is  the  fault  of  those  who 
gave  him  the  schools,  the  fault  of  those  who  builded  for 
him.  He  knew  not  how  to  build  for  himself. 

Useful  and  Independent. — The  colored  youth  can  be 
educated  to  usefulness,  respectability  and  honor.  The 
education  that  the  colored  man  receives,  however, 
should  be  so  directed  as  to  make  him  useful  and  inde- 
pendent at  the  earliest  possible  moment.  The  philan- 
thropist will  give  alms  to  the  unfortunate,  will  feed  the 
man  temporarily  out  of  employment,  but  he  will  not 
give  employment  to  the  unskilled  man  when  one  who 
is  skilled  can  be  found.  Not  many  years  ago  it  was 
found  that  skilled  persons  from  foreign  lands  were 
occupying  the  most  lucrative  positions  in  the  factories 
of  America.  Aroused  by  this  fact  and  further  awak- 
ened by  the  Centennial  Exposition  of  1876,  the  public 
schools  of  the  nation  began  in  earnest  the  training  of 
hand  and  eye.  Polytechnic  schools  sprang  up  in  all 
parts  of  the  land.  These  things  were  done  for  the 
benefit  of  America's  bread-winners. 

America's  Prosperity  is  due  less  to  her  agricultural 
interests  than  to  her  making  powers.  She  has  made 
herself  wealthy,  respected,  and  powerful,  by  transform- 
ing raw  material  into  valuable  and  useful  things. 
There  is  more  of  this  to  be  done  in  the  future  than  there 
has  been  in  the  past,  and  skilled  hands  will  do  it.  The 
colored  man  should  be  made  to  appreciate  this  fact. 

If  the  colored  man  is  not  trained  in  the  useful  arts  of 
life,  in  those  arts  that  have  made  the  best  citizenship  of 
America,  in  those  arts  that  have  given  the  greatest 
wealth  to  America,  in  those  arts  that  have  given  the 
greatest  dignity  to  America,  in  those  arts  that  have 


346  PROGRESS   OF    A   RACE. 

brought  the  greatest  renown  to  America,  in  those  arts 
that  have  made  it  possible  for  the  people  to  preserve  a 
united  interest  and  a  common  pride,  under  one  govern- 
ment, the  skilled  white  laborer  will  occupy  the  paying 
positions,  leaving  the  unskilled  colored  laborer  the  poor- 
ly paid  places  of  helpers  and  assistants.  I  wish  only  to 
see  things  as  they  are. ' ' 

In  One  Generation. — It  is  only  thirty  years  since  all 
the  learning  of  his  race  was  embodied  in  its  folklore, 
when  the  written  literature  of  the  white  man  among 
whom  he  lived  was  sealed  to  him  by  the  compulsory 
ignorance  in  which  he  was  kept.  The  Negro  in  the 
old  days  must  spend  his  time  thinking  and  talking,  where 
the  white  man  by  his  side  spent  it  in  learning  through 
the  medium  of  books ;  and  thoughts  and  beliefs  must 
be  perpetuated  by  him  in  stories,  songs,  rhythmic  utter- 
ances and  rites  and  ceremonies  which  could  by  the 
whites  be  committed  to  paper,  to  survive  or  be  forgot- 
ten as  the  case  might  be.  In  consequence  of  this  short 
distance  in  time  that  lies  between  the  Afro- American 
and  the  unwritten  learning  that  belongs  to  the  child- 
hood of  his  past,  he  may  look  back  with  ease  and  gather 
up  for  himself  and  his  future  history  the  small  begin- 
nings of  learning  which  preceded  literary  attainment. 

School  Population. — The  report  of  the  Commissioner 
of  Education  for  1895  gives  the  following  reliable  infor- 
mation and  statistics  for  the  colored  schools  for  that 
year.  In  the  sixteen  slave  states  and  the  District  of 
Columbia,  the  estimated  number  of  persons  five  to 
eighteen  years  of  age,  the  school  population,  was  8,297,- 
.  1 60.  Of  this  number  5,573,440  were  white  children 
and  2,723,720,  or  32.9  per  cent,  colored.  The  total 
enrollment  in  the  white  schools  was  3,845,414,  and  in 
the  colored  schools  1,441,282.  The  per  cent  of  white 


EDUCATIONAL   IMPROVEMENT.  347 

school  population  enrolled  was  69,  and  the  per  cent,  of 
the  colored  school  population' enrolled  was  52.92.  The 
whites  had  an  average  daily  attendance  of  2,510,907,  or 
65.30  percent,  of  their  enrollment,  while  the  average  at- 
tendance of  the  blacks  was  956,312,  or  5 8. 41. per  cent,  of 
their  enrollment.  There  were  89,276  white  teachers  and 
2  7, 08 1  colored  teachers  in  the  public  schools  of  the  South 
in  1895. 

Money  Expended. — An  accurate  statement  of  the 
amounts  of  money  expended  by  each  of  the  Southern 
states  for  the  education  of  the  colored  children  cannot 
be  given,  for  the  reason  that  in  only  two  or  three  of 
these  states  are  separate  accounts  kept  of  the  moneys 
expended  for  colored  schools.  Since  1876  the  Southern 
states  have  expended  about  $383,000,000  for  public 
schools,  and  it  is  fair  to  estimate  that  between  $75.,- 
000,000  and  $80,000,000  of  this  sum  must  have  been 
expended  for  the  education  of  colored  children. 

Illiteracy  of  the  Colored  Population. — What  have 
the  Negroes  themselves  accomplished  to  justify  the 
generosity  of  the  white  people  of  the  South  and  the 
benevolence  of  the  people  of  the  North?  It  may  be  said 
that  in  1860  the  colored  race  was  totally  illiterate.  In 
1870  more  than  85  per  cent,  of  the  colored  population  of 
the  South,  ten  years  of  age  and  over,  could  not  read 
and  write.  In  1880  the  per  cent,  of  illiterates  had  been 
reduced  to  75,  and  in  1890  the  illiterates  comprised 
about  60  per  cent,  of  the  colored  population  ten  years 
of  age  and  over.  In  several  of  the  Southern  states  the 
percentage  is  even  below  50  per  cent.  In  the  states 
where  the  colored  population  is  greatest  in  proportion 
to  the  total  population,  or  where  such  colored  popula- 
tion is  massed,  as  in  the  black  belt"  of  South  Caro- 
lina, Georgia,  Alabama,  Mississippi  and  Louisiana, 
there  the  per  cent,  of  illiteracy  is  highest. 


348 


EDUCATIONAL    IMPROVEMENT.  349 

Illiteracy  Disappearing. — In  thirty  years  40  per  cent, 
of  the  illiteracy  of  the  colored  race  had  disappeared. 
In  education  and  in  industrial  progress  this  race  had 
accomplished  more  than  it  could  have  achieved  in 
centuries  in  a  different  environment,  without  the  aid 
of  the  whites.  The  Negro  has  needed  the  example  as 
well  as  the  aid  of  the  white  man.  In  sections  where  the 
colored  population  is  massed  and  removed  from  contact 
with  the  whites,  the  progress  of  the  Negro  has  been 
retarded.  He  is  an  imitative  being,  and  has  a  constant 
desire  to  attempt  whatever  he  sees  the  white  man  do. 
He  believes  in  educating  his  children,  because  he  can 
see  that  an  increase  of  knowledge  will  enable  them  to 
better  their  condition. 

Secondary  and  Higher  Education. — There  are  in 
the  United  States  162  institutions  for  the  secondary  and 
higher  education  of  the  colored  race.  Six  of  these 
schools  are  not  located  within  the  boundaries  of  the 
former  slave  states.  Of  the  162  institutions,  32  are  of 
the  grade  of  colleges,  73  are  classed  as  normal  schools, 
and  the  remaining  57  are  of  secondary  or  high  school 
grade.  While  all  these  schools  teach  pupils  in  the  ele- 
mentary studies,  they  also  carry  instructions  beyond 
the  common  school  branches.  State  aid  is  extended  to 
35  of  the  162  institutions,  and  18  of  these  are  wholly 
supported  by  the  states  in  which  they  are  established. 
The  remaining  schools  are  supported  wholly  or  in  part 
by  benevolent  societies  and  from  tuition  fees.  In  these 
schools  were  employed  1,549  teachers,  711  males  and 
838  females.  The  total  number  of  students  was 
37,102;  of  these  23,420  were  in  elementary  grades, 
11,724  in  secondary  grades,  and  1,958  were  pursuing 
collegiate  studies.  Of  the  13,682  students  in  secondary 
and  higher  grades,  there  were  990  in  classical  courses, 


350  PROGRESS   OF    A    RACE. 

811  in  scientific  courses,  295  in  business  courses,  and 
9,331  in  English  courses. 

Teachers. — There  were  4,514  colored  students  study- 
ing- to  become  teachers,  1,902  males  and  2,612  females. 
Many  of  these  students  were  included  among  those 
pursuing  the  English  and  other  courses. 

High  Schools. — The  number  of  students  graduating 
from  high  school  courses  was  649,  the  number  of  males 
being  282  and  the  number  of  females  367.  There  were 
844  graduates  from  normal  courses,  357  males  and  487 
females.  The  number  of  college  graduates  was  186, 
the  number  of  males  being  151  and  the  number  of 
females  35. 

Professions. — There  were  1,166  colored  students 
studying  learned  professions,  1,028  males  and  138 
females.  Of  the  professional  students  585  were  study- 
ing theology,  310  medicine,  55  law,  45  pharmacy,  25 
dentistry,  and  8  engineering.  The  138  female  students 
were  receiving  professional  training  for  nurses.  There 
were  42  graduates  in  theology,  6  7  in  medicine,  21  in  law, 
2  in  dentistry,  16  in  pharmacy,  and  25  in  nurse  train- 
ing. 

Industrial  Training. — The  importance  of  industrial 
training  is  almost  universally  recognized  by  teachers  of 
the  colored  race,  and  the  Negroes  themselves  are  be- 
ginning to  see  its  value.  There  are  about  13,000 
pupils  receiving  industrial  training  in  the  schools. 

Industrial  Schools.— * 'Talks  for  the  Times"  says: 
*  *  The  wisdom  and  foresight  in  the  establishment  of  these 
industrial  departments  are  apparent.  We  cannot  all  be 
teachers  and  preachers  and  lawyers  and  doctors.  This 
has  never  been  the  condition  of  any  people,  and  the 
colored  people  are  no  exception.  Somebody  must  push 
the  saw  and  drive  the  plane.  Somebody  must  plow. 


EDUCATIONAL    IMPROVEMENT.  351 

There  must  be  somewhere  among  us  a  strong,  intelli- 
gent, virtuous  middle  class,  the  salt  of  society  in  all 
ages.  Moreover,  the  demand  for  skilled  labor  becomes 
more  and  more  imperative,  and,  unless  the  ranks  of  the 
colored  mechanics  and  artisans  can  be  recruited  from 
these  schools,  or  some  other  schools,  if  you  please,  with 
workmen  of  higher  intelligence,  the  South  will  be 
flooded  with  foreigners  to  meet  the  demand.  This,  of 
course,  would  be  bad  for  the  Negro,  but  perhaps  worse 
for  the  South  and  the  nation ;  for,  with  Europe  in  her 
present  condition,  an  influx  of  foreigners  may  be  accom- 
panied by  an  influx  of  dangerous  isms — Fenianism  and 
Socialism  and  Communism  and  Nihilism,  and  all  those 
isms. whose  arguments  in  the  settlement  of  social  ques- 
tions are  dynamite  and  assassination.  Surely,  then,  it  is 
as  politic  as  it  is  provident  in  the  leaders  of  our  educa- 
tional work  in  the  South  to  guard  against  this  train  of 
evils  by  educating  and  training  for  the  management  of 
our  ever-increasing  industries  a  people  born  to  the  soil, 
a  people  whose  characteristics,  tested  during  two  cen- 
turies and  a  half,  have  been  found  to  be  love,  affection, 
gentleness,  fidelity,  forgiveness,  and  whose  only  crime 
has  been  the  color  of  their  skin.  This,  then,  in  brief, 
is  what  the  Christian  church  has  done  and  is  doing 
for  us. ' ' 

Industrial  Education, — Industrial  education  is  gain- 
ing many  friends  all  through  the  Southland,  and  while 
there  are  multitudes  who  speak  in  praise  of  the  indus- 
trial schools  of  the  South  there  are  others  who  object 
to  the  methods  pursued. 

"Industrial  training,"  says  President  Mitchell,  of  the 
Leland  University,  New  Orleans,  "is  good  and  useful  to 
some  persons' if  they  can  afford  time  to  take  it,  but  in  its 
application  to  the  Negro  several  facts  should  be  clearly 


§52  PROGRESS   OF    A    RACfc. 

understood.  It  is  a  mistake  to  suppose  that  industrial 
education  can  be  applied  to  the  beginning  of  school 
life ;  it  is  not  possible  or  desirable  to  train  large  bodies 
of  youth  to  superior  industrial  skill  without  a  basis  of 
sound  elementary  education.  You  cannot  polish  a  brick- 
bat, and  you  cannot  make  a  good  workman  of  a  planta- 
tion Negro  or  a  white  ignoramus  until  you  first  wake 
up  his  mind,  and  give  him  the  mental  discipline  and 
knowledge  that  come  from  a  good  school.  Industrial 
training  is  expensive  of  time  and  money,  as  compared 
with  its  results  as  a  civilizer.  When  you  have  trained 
one  student  you  have  simply  fitted  one  man  to  any  ordi- 
nary living.  When  you  have  given  a  college  education 
to  a  man  with  brains  it  is  sending  forth  an  instrument 
that  will  fit  hundreds  and  thousands.  Again,  industrial 
training  is  liable  to  divert  attention  from  the  real  aim  and 
end  of  education, which  is  manhood.  Lastly,  the  industri- 
al schools  of  the  South  seem  to  show  that  even  their 
students  are  not  proficient.  Of  18  colored  schools  in 
which  industrial  instruction  is  given,  such  as  carpentry, 
tinning,  painting,  plastering,  shoemaking,  tailoring, 
blacksmi thing,  farming,  gardening,  etc.,  having  1243 
graduates,  there  are  found  to  be  only  12  farmers,  2 
mechanics,  i  carpenter. 

The  employments  of  the  graduates  were :  Teachers, 
693;  ministers,  117;  physicians,  163;  lawyers,  116; 
editors,  5 ;  merchants,  15 ;  U.  S.  government  service, 
36,  etc. 

We  take  the  following  extracts  from  an  address 
delivered  by  Booker  T.  Washington,  principal  of  the 
Tuskegee  Normal  and  Industrial  Institute : 

Advantages. — Industrial  training,  combined  with 
the  mental  and  religious  training,  has  several  emphatic 
advantages.  Few  of  the  young  men  and  women  who 


EDUCATIONAL  IMPROVEMENT.  353 

Came  to  us  were  able  to  remain  in  school  during  the 
nine  months  and  pay  in  cash  the  $8  per  month  charged 
for  board.  Through  our  industries  we  give  them  the 
chance  of  working  out  a  part  of  their  board,  and  the 
remainder  they  pay  in  cash. 

Respect  for  Labor. — Industrial  training  gives  to  stu- 
dents the  respect  and  love  for  labor,  helps  them  to  get 
rid  of  the  idea  so  long  prevalent  in  the  South  that  labor 
with  the  hands  is  rather  degrading,  and  this  feeling  is 
not  altogether  original  with  the  black  men  of  the  South. 
The  fact  that  a  man  goes  into  the  world  with  the  con- 
sciousness that  he  has  within  him  the  power  to  make  a 
wagon  or  a  house  gives  him  a  certain  moral  backbone 
and  independence  in  the  world.  At  the  head  of  each 
industrial  department  there  is  a  competent  instructor,  so 
that  the  student  is  not  only  learning  the  practical  work 
but  is  taught  as  well  the  underlying  principles.  When 
the  student  is  through  with  brick  masonry  he  not  only 
understands  the  trade  in  a  practical  way,  but  also 
mechanical  and  architectural  training  to  such  an  extent 
that  he  can  become  a  leader  in  this  industry. 

Leaders. — In  everything  done,  in  literature,  religion 
and  industrial  training,  the  question  kept  constantly 
before  us  all  is  that  the  institution  exists  for  the  pur- 
pose of  training  a  certain  number  of  picked  leaders  who 
will  go  out  and  reach  the  masses,  and  show  them  how 
to  lift  themselves  up.  It  must  be  remembered  that  85 
per  cent,  of  the  colored  people  in  the  South  live  in  the 
country  districts,  where  they  are  difficult  to  reach 
except  by  special  effort. 

Importance. — The  question  is  often  asked  me,  why 
is  it  important  to  emphasize  industrial  education  in  the 
South,  especially  among  the  colored  people?  Let  me 
try  to  give  the  answer.  For  three  hundred  years  the 

23  Progress. 


354  PROGRESS   OF    A    RrACE. 

influence  of  slavery  had  the  effect  to  educate  the  white 
man  and  black  man  away  from  loving  labor.  The 
white  man's  aim  was  to  have  the  Negro  perform  the 
labor,  and  the  Negro's  aim  was  to  escape  as  much  of  it 
as  possible.  Then  all  the  conditions  that  surrounded 
slavery  made  intelligent  labor  impossible.  Under  such 
circumstances  no  class  in  the  South  was  trained  to  dig- 
nify labor,  to  look  upon  it  as  something  ennobling,  but 
the  reverse.  In  addition,  slavery  left  4,000,000  slaves 
and  twice  as  many  whites  practically  empty  handed  so 
far  as  material  and  industrial  possessions  were  con- 
cerned. 

Not  Limited  Mental  Development.— Confining  the 
discussion  now  to  the  nearly  8,000,000  of  Negroes  in 
the  South,  let  any  one  come  into  the  South  and  go  into 
the  country  districts  especially,  where  85  per  cent  of 
our  people  live,  and  a  few  cardinal  needs  will  at  once 
become  evident — ownership  of  land,  proper  food,  shel- 
ter, clothing,  habits  of  thrift,  economy,  and  something 
provident  for  a  rainy  day.  Since  these  are  emphatic 
needs,  is  it  not  common  sense  as  well  as  logic  to  direct 
a  large  proportion  of  our  educational  force  along  lines 
that  soonest  cure  these  very  needs?  Too  often  when 
the  object  of  industrial  education  for  the  black  man  is 
mentioned,  some  get  the  idea  that  industrial  education 
is  a  synonym  for  a  limited  mental  development.  This 
is  not  true.  This  important  question  should  not  be 
befogged  by  any  such  argument.  It  requires  as  much 
brain  power  to  build  a  Corliss  engine  as  to  write  a  Greek 
grammar.  I  would  say  to  the  Negro  boy  what  I  would 
say  to  any  boy — get  all  the  mental  development  possi- 
ble ;  but  I  would  also  say  to  a  large  proportion  of  the 
black  boys  and  girls,  and  would  emphasize  it  for  the 
next  fifty  years  or  longer,  that,  either  at  the  same  time 


EDUCATIONAL    IMPROVEMENT.  355 

that  the  literary  training  is  being  got,  or  after  it  is  got, 
they  should  devote  themselves  to  the  mastery  of  some 
industry. 

Look  at  Facts. — Praise  is  good  for  a  race  as  for  an 
individual,  but  flattery  is  not  good  for  either.  To  tell 
us  as  a  race  that  our  condition  is  now  the  same  as  that 
of  any  other  race,  and  that  our  training  at  present 
should  not  differ  from  that  of  other  races,  is  to  tell  us 
something  that  makes  the  average  black  man  feel  good, 
but  it  is  not  telling  him  that  which  is  true,  nor  that 
which  on  the  long  run  will  benefit  him  most.  It  is  far 
better  for  us  as  a  race  to  look  facts  honestly  in  the  face 
— to  recognize  that  three  hundred  years  of  slave  labor 
and  ignorance  have  left  our  condition  far  from  being 
the  same — and  apply  the  remedy  accordingly.  I  In  our 
education  of  the  black  man  so  far,  we  have  failed  in  a 
large  degree  to  educate  along  the  very  line  in  which  most 
of  the  colored  people  especially  need  help.  At  least 
85  per  cent,  of  our  people  in  the  South  depend  on  agricul- 
ture in  some  form  for  their  living,  and  yet,  aside  from 
what  has  been  done  at  the  Hampton  Institute  in 
Virginia,  the  Tuskegee  Institute  in  Alabama,  and  two 
or  three  other  institutions,  almost  no  attention  has  been 
given  to  providing  first-class  training  in  agriculture, 
dairying,  horticulture,  poultry  raising,  and  stock  raising. 
We  have  given  colored  men  the  highest  training  in 
theology,  medicine,  law,  oratory,  the  classics,  etc.,  and 
this  is  right.  The  colored  boy  has  been  taken  from  the 
farm  and  taught  astronomy ;  how  to  locate  Jupiter  and 
Mars,  how  to  measure  Venus — taught  about  everything 
except  that  which  he  depends  upon  for  daily  bread. 
The  great  problem  now  is,  how  to  get  the  masses  to  the 
point  where  they  can  be  sure  of  a  comfortable  living 
and  be  prepared  to  save  a  little  something  each  year. 


EDUCATIONAL   IMPROVEMENT.  357 

This  can  be  accomplished  only  by  putting  among  the 
masses  as  fast  as  possible  strong,  well-trained  leaders 
in  the  industrial  walks  of  life. 

Ennobling  Labor. — Objection  is  sometimes  waged 
against  pushing  industrial  education  for  the  Negro,  on 
the  ground  that  the  Negro  has  had  a  training  in  work 
for  three  hundred  years,  and  does  not  need  help  along 
that  line.  Right  here  the  mistake  is  made.  Industrial 
education,  so  far  from  teaching  an  individual  how  to 
work,  teaches  him  how  not  to  work — teaches  him  how 
to  make  the  forces  of  nature  work  for  him,  to  lift  labor 
up  out  of  toil  and  drudgery  into  the  atmosphere  where 
labor  is  ennobled,  beautified  and  glorified.  Industrial 
education  is  meant  to  take  the  boy  who  has  been  follow- 
ing an  old  mule  behind  a  plow,  making  corn  at  the  rate 
of  ten  bushels  an  acre,  and  set  him  upon  a  machine, 
under  an  umbrella,  behind  two  fine  horses,  so  that  he 
can  make  four  times  as  much  corn  as  by  the  old  process, 
and  with  less  labor.  Without  industrial  education, 
when  the  black  woman  washes  a  shirt,  she  washes  it 
with  both  hands,  both  feet  and  her  whole  body.  An 
individual  with  industrial  education  will  use  a  machine 
that  washes  ten  times  as  many  shirts  in  a  given  time, 
with  almost  no  expenditure  of  physical  force — steam, 
electricity,  or  water  power  doing  the  work.  It  is  safe 
to  say  that  90  per  cent,  of  the  colored  people,  as  is  per- 
haps true  of  most  races,  depend  for  their  living  on  the 
common  occupations  of  life.  Since  this  is  true,  it  seems 
to  me  that  it  is  part  of  wisdom  to  give  much  attention 
to  fitting  these  masses  to  do  an  ordinary  task  in  an 
extraordinary  way. 

High  Forms  of  Labor. — For  want  of  the  highest  intel- 
ligence and  skill,  the  Negroes'  labor  is  confined  to  what 
is  termed  the  lower  forms  of  labor.  We  must  not  only 


358  PROGRESS    OF    A    RACE. 

teach  the  Negro  to  improve  the  methods  of  performing 
what  is  now  classed  as  the  lower  forms  of  labor,  but  the 
Negro  must  be  put  in  a  position,  by  the  use  of  intelli- 
gence and  skill,  to  take  his  part  in  the  higher  forms  of 
labor,  up  in  the  regions  where  the  profit  appears. 
When  it  comes  to  the  production  of  cotton,  for  example, 
the  Negro  is  the  main  factor;  when  it  comes  to  the 
working  of  this  cotton  up  into  the  finer  fabrics, 
where  the  profit  appears,  the  Negro  disappears  as  a 
factor.  This  defect  can  be  remedied  only  by  teaching 
the  Negro  that  a  man  with  the  highest  education  can 
make  his  life  useful  by  giving  the  race  the  benefit  of  his 
training  along  the  lines  of  agriculture,  dairying,  horti- 
culture, laundering,  and  manufacture  in  its  various 
forms.  If  the  educated  men  of  the  race  do  not  come  to 
the  rescue  of  the  masses  along  these  industrial  lines,  the 
Negro,  instead  of  being  the  soul  and  the  center  of  im- 
portant industries,  will  be  relegated  to  the  ragged  edge. 
Slowly  the  colored  mechanics,  who  received  their  train- 
ing in  slavery,  are  dying,  and  their  places  are  being 
filled  with  white  men  of  skill  and  intelligence.  At 
present,  the  colored  man  in  the  Gulf  states  has  a 
monopoly  of  the  skilled  labor,  but  he  will  not  hold  it 
many  years  unless  he  has  men  of  his  own  race  who  can 
not  only  perform  the  mechanical  work,  but  can  draw 
the  plans  and  make  estimates  on  large  and  compli- 
cated jobs. 

Value  of  Culture. — In  thus  pleading  the  importance 
of  industrial  training  for  our  people,  I  have  often  been 
criticised  and  misunderstood,  because  I  seem  to  over- 
look the  ethical,  religious  side,  or  seem  to  underesti- 
mate the  value  of  culture.  I  do  not  overlook  the 
value  of  these  elements,  for  they  are  as  valuable  for 
the  Negro  as  for  any  race ;  but  it  is  a  pretty  hard  thing 


EDUCATIONAL  IMPROVEMENT.  359 


to  give  a  man  much  culture  when  he  has  no  house  to 
live  in,  and  it  is  equally  hard  to  make  a  good  Christian 
of  a  hungry  man.  I  claim  for  the  Negro  all  the  rights 
and  privileges  enjoyed  by  any  other  race,  but  also 
maintain  that  we  must  have  a  foundation  on  which  to 
rest  our  claims.  Nothing  will  so  soon  cause  prejudice 
against  the  Negro  to  disappear  as  industrial  or  com- 
mercial development,  ownership  of  property;  the 
production  of  that  which  others  must  buy,  soon  results 
in  an  individual's  securing  all  his  rights;  and  the  same 
is  equally  true  of  a  race. 

Here  at  the  Tuskegee  Institute,  with  its  25  indus- 
tries, 800  students,  78  instructors,  we  are  doing  all  we 
can  to  send  out  a  constant  stream  of  young  men  who 
go  as  leaders  to  put  in  force  the  very  ideas  that  I  have 
tried  to  mention.  Had  we  the  means  we  could  make 
our  work  50  per  cent,  more  potent.  Any  American 
who  wants  to  do  the  most  toward  producing  good  citi- 
zenship should  see  that  such  a  movement  as  is  now  on 
foot  at  Tuskegee  does  not  suffer,  as  it  is  now  suffering, 
for  want  of  money. 

Friction. — Whatever  friction  exists  between  the 
black  man  and  white  man  in  the  South  will  disappear 
in  proportion  as  the  black  man,  by  reason  of  his  intel- 
ligence and  skill,  can  create  something  that  the  white 
man  wants  or  respects ;  can  make  something,  instead 
of  all  the  dependence  being  on  the  other  side.  Despite 
all  her  faults,  when  it  comes  to  business  pure  and 
simple,  the  South  presents  the  opportunity  to  the 
Negro  for  business  that  no  other  section  of  the  country 
does.  The  Negro  can  sooner  conquer  Southern  prej- 
udice in  the  civilized  world  than  learn  to  compete 
with  the  North  in  the  business  world.  In  field,  in 


PROGRESS    OF    A    RACE. 

factory,  in  the  markets,  the  South  presents  a  better 
opportunity  for  the  Negro  to  earn  a  living  than  is 
found  in  the  North.  A  young  man  educated  in  head, 
hand  and  heart,  goes  out  and  starts  a  brickyard,  a 
blacksmith  shop,  a  wagon  shop,  or  an  industry  by 
which  that  black  boy  produces  something  in  the  com- 
munity that  makes  the  white  man  dependent  on  the 
black  man  for  something — produces  something  that  in- 
terlocks, knits  the  commercial  relations  of  the  races 
together,  to  the  extent  that  a  black  man  gets  a  mort- 
gage on  a  white  man's  house  that  he  can  foreclose  at 
will;  well,  the  white  man  won't  drive  the  Negro  away 
from  the  polls  when  he  sees  him  going  up  to  vote. 
There  are  reports  to  the  effect  that  in  some  sections 
the  black  man  has  difficulty  in  voting  and  having 
counted  the  little  white  ballots  which  he  has  the  privi- 
lege of  depositing  about  twice  in  two  years,  but  there 
is  a  little  green  ballot  that  he  can  vote  through  the 
teller's  window  three  hundred  and  thirteen  days  in  every 
year,  and  no  one  will  throw  it  out  or  refuse  to  count 
it  The  man  that  has  the  property,  the  intelligence, 
the  character,  is  the  one  that  is  going  to  have  the 
largest  share  in  controlling  the  government,  whether 
he  is  white  or  black,  or  whether  in  the  North  or  South. 
Privileges  of  the  Law. — It  is  important  that  all  the 
privileges  of  the  law  be  ours.  It  is  vastly  more  impor- 
tant that  we  be  prepared  for  the  exercise  of  these 
privileges.  Says  the  great  Teacher:  "I  will  draw  all 
men  unto  me."  How?  Not  by  force,  not  by  law,  not 
by  superficial  glitter.  Following  in  .the  tracks  of  the 
lowly  Nazarene,  we  shall  continue  to  work  and  wait, 
till  by  the  exercise  of  the  higher  virtues,  by  the  prod- 
ucts of  our  brains  and  hands,  we  make  ourselves  so 
valuable,  so  attractive  to  the  American  nation,  that 


EDUCATIONAL    IMPROVEMENT.  861 

instead  of  repelling"  we  shall  draw  men  to  us  because  of 
our  intrinsic  worth.  It  will  be  needless  to  pass  a  law  to 
compel  men  to  come  into  contact  with  a  Negro  who  is 
educated  and  has  $200,000  to  lend.  In  some  respects  it 
is  already  acknowledged  that  as  a  race  we  are  more 
powerful,  have  a  greater  power  of  attraction,  than  the 
Anglo-Saxon  race.  It  takes  100  per  cent,  of  Anglo- 
Saxon  blood  to  make  a  white  American.  The  minute 
that  it  is  proved  that  a  man  possesses  one  one-hundredth 
part  of  Negro  blood  in  his  veins  it  makes  him  a  black 
man;  he  falls  to  our  side;  we  claim  him.  The  99  per 
cent,  of  white  blood  counts  for  nothing-  when  weighed 
beside  i  per  cent  of  Negro  blood. 

Mistakes. — None  of  us  will  deny  that  immediately 
after  freedom  we  made  serious  mistakes.  We  began  at 
the  top.  We  made  these  mistakes,  not  because  we  were 
black  people,  but  because  we  were  ignorant  and  inex- 
perienced people.  We  have  spent  time  and  money 
attempting  to  go  to  congress  and  state  legislatures  that 
could  have  better  been  spent  in  becoming  the  leading 
real  estate  dealers  or  carpenters  in  our  own  country.  We 
have  spent  time  and  money  in  making  political  stump 
speeches  and  in  attending  political  conventions  that 
could  better  have  been  spent  in  starting  a  dairy  farm  or 
truck  garden,  and  thus  have  laid  a  material  foundation, 
on  which  we  could  have  stood  and  demanded  our  rights. 
When  a  man  eats  another  person's  food,  wears  another's 
clothes,  and  lives  in  another's  house,  it  is  pretty  hard 
to  tell  how  he  is  going  to  vote  or  whether  he  votes 
at  all. 

Men  may  make  laws  to  hinder  and  fetter  the  ballot, 
but  men  cannot  make  laws  that  will  always  bind  or 
retard  the  growth  of  manhood: 


362  PROGRESS    OF    A    RACE. 

"Fleecy  locks  and  black  complexion 

Cannot  forfeit  Nature's  claim ; 
Skins  may  differ,  but  affection 
Dwells  in  white  and  black  the  same." 

Progress. — We  went  into  slavery  Pagans,  we  came 
out  Christians.  We  went  into  slavery  a  piece  of  prop- 
erty, we  came  out  American  citizens.  We  went  into 
slavery  without  a  language,  we  came  out  speaking  the 
proud  Anglo-Saxon  tongue.  We  went  into  slavery 
with  the  slave  chains  clanking  about  our  waists,  we 
came  out  with  the  American  ballot  in  our  hands.  Prog- 
ress is  the  law  of  nature ;  under  God  it  shall  be  our 
eternal  ^guiding  star. ' ' 

A  New  Nation. — A  new  nation,  says  President 
Mitchell,  has  now  come  upon  the  stage.  Eight  million? 
of  people  have  been  thrust  into  the  center  of  our  civi- 
lization. They  have  been  endowed  with  citizenship, 
with  all  its  responsibilities,  with  all  its  possibilities  for 
good  or  evil.  They  constitute  about  one-eighth  part  of 
our  body  politic.  Among  them  is  over  one-third  of  the 
Baptist  denomination  of  this  country.  Shall  they  be 
educated?  Can  we  afford  to  leave  one  stone  unturned, 
one  agency  unemployed,  which  might  lead  this  mighty 
force  out  of  the  slough  of  ignorance  and  poverty  and 
vice  and  into  the  plane  of  Christian  manhood  and  use- 
ful citizenship?  There  can  be  but  one  answer  to  this 
question.  If  we  have  any  regard  for  our  brethren  in 
Christ  Jesus;  if  we  have  any  loyalty  to  our  great 
Baptist  brotherhood,  we  can  not  withhold  any  possible 
facility  for  that  self -improvement  of  which,  through  no 
fault  of  their  own,  they  have  for  centuries  been  depriv- 
ed. It  goes  without  saying  that  education  is  what  they 
need — education,  moral,  intellectual,  physical. 


EDUCATIONAL    IMPROVEMENT.  863 

Primary,  Industrial  and  Higher  Education.— 
Mr.  Fortune  says:  "I  do  not  hesitate  to  say  that  if 
the  vast  sums  of  money  already  expended,  and  now 
being  spent,  in  the  equipment  and  maintenance  of  col- 
leges and  universities  for  the  so-called  higher  education 
of  colored  youths,  had  been  expended  in  establishing 
and  maintaining  primary  schools  and  schools  of  applied 
science,  the  race  would  have  profited  vastly  more  than 
it  has,  both  mentally  and  materially,  while  the  result 
would  have  operated  more  advantageously  to  the  states, 
and  satisfactorily  to  the  munificent  benefactors.  I  do 
not  inveigh,  against  higher  education.  I  simply  main- 
tain that  the  sort  of  education  that  the  colored  people 
of  the  South  stand  most  in  need  of  is  elementary  and 
industrial. ' ' 

Normal  Schools  for  colored  teachers  must  be  estab- 
lished and  maintained,  until  all  schools  can  be  provided 
with  colored  teachers  who  are  thoroughly  trained,  and 
who  will  live  in  the  communities  for  whom  they  teach, 
and  who  will  in  every  way  be  united  in  interest  with 
the  pupils  and  patrons  whom  they  serve.  Aside  from 
these  peculiarities,  the  school  education  of  the  Negro  in 
the  South  seems  to  me  to  present  no  new  or  difficult 
educational  problem.  In  like  manner  I  see  no  reason 
why  he  may  not  be  allowed  or  required  to  construct  for 
himself,  apart  from  the  white  race,  his  family,  church 
and  civil  society;  but  it  is  well  to  be  remembered  that 
he  can  do  these  well  only  after  he  has  had  guaranteed 
to  him  his  privileges  as  component  part  of  the  state. 
The  property  of  the  state — of  the  white  man  and  the 
black  man  alike — must  be  pledged  to  the  equal  educa- 
tion of  the  children  of  both;  and  I  myself  should  not 
in  the  least  object  if  this  principle  should  be  interpreted 
to  have  a  national  application. 


364  PROGRESS    OF    A    RACE. 

The  State  Superintendent  of  Mississippi  reports 
there  is  not  a  white  teacher  in  the  colored  schools  of 
the  state,  and  this  is  substantially  true  of  every  state 
in  the  South.  The  entire  public  school  system  for  the 
Negro  is  carried  on  by  Negro  teachers  In  Mississippi 
there  are  over  600  colored  teachers  who  hold  first  grade 
certificates;  these  .teachers  are  examined  by  a  white 
board,  and  have  just  the  same  questions  that  the  white 
teachers  have.  Virginia  reports  700,  North  Carolina 
761,  Arkansas  500;  Texas,  with  a  different  method  of 
classification,  reports  1,900.  Of  19  colored  teachers 
in  an  institute,  18  were  found  to  be  college  graduates, 
while  in  an  adjoining  county,  in  a  white  institute,  with 
37  in  attendance,  there  were  only  about  one-fourth  of 
them  college  graduates. 

Color-Intellect. — If  color  has  anything  to  do  with 
intellect,  it  should  appear  when  the  two  colors  or  races 
are  brought  into  contact  and  competition.  After  a  care- 
ful inquiry  the  almost  universal  opinion  is  that  there  is 
no  difference  of  mental  ability  between  the  races  where 
the  same  privileges  have  been  enjoyed.  If  they  have 
come  from  ignorant  districts  and  dark  surroundings, 
their  intellect  is  inferior  to  those  who  come  from  culti- 
vated homes,  although  it  is  frequently  found  the 
greatest  ignorance  of  the  former  counterbalances  this 
ability. 

One -Room  Cabins. — The  Southern  Negroes  are  not 
all  living  in  one-room  cabins,  of  which  we  have  heard 
much  recently.  There  are  beautiful  and  pleasant 
homes  owned  by  Negroes  in  New  Orleans.  There  are 
plenty  of  ex-slaves  in  Louisiana  that  are  richer  now 
than  their  former  masters.  There  are  over  300,000 
homes  and  farms  owned  by  Negroes  in  the  South,  Six 
years  ago  Southern  Negroes  were  paying  taxes  on 


EDUCATIONAL    IMPROVEMENT.  365 

nearly  $300,000,000.  The  white  Baptists  of  the  South 
had  church  property  worth  $18,000,000,  the  accumula- 
tion of  200  years.  The  Negro  Baptists  at  the  same 
time  (only  twenty-six  years  out  of  slavery)  had  acquired 
church  property  of  over  $9,000,000. 

President  Gates  says :  '  *  My  observation  leads  me  to 
believe  that  the  proportion  of  truly  successful  men, 
tried  by  the  highest  standards  of  success,  among  the 
colored  men  who  study  in  our  Northern  colleges  is 
quite  as  great  as  is  the  proportion  of  successful  men 
among  the  whites  who  have  the  same,  or  equally  good, 
opportunities  for  an  education. ' ' 

Industrial  Training. — Since  industrial  training  has 
become  so  prominent  in  some  of  the  schools  of  the 
South,  it  seems  that  other  educational  circles  are  not  in 
sympathy  with  the  idea  of  making  industrial  schools 
the  prominent  school  of  the  South.  A  crisis  in  the  prog- 
ress of  Negro  education  has  been  reached.  A  new 
generation  of  educated  youth,  wiser  than  their  parents, 
wiser  than  their  ministers,  approaching  manhood  and 
womanhood,  are  ready  to  take  control  of  affairs  and  of 
public  sentiment.  They  already  know  the  difference 
between  learning  and  ignorance,  between  religion  and 
superstition.  They  have  no  knowledge  of  slavery. 
The  fact  that  less  than  one  thousand  of  the  whole  South 
are  in  collegiate  study  is  to  be  accounted  for  not  by  want 
of  capacity  for  higher  studies,  but  for  want  of  motive. 
Education  costs  them  a  great  deal.  Nearly  every  one 
earns  every  dollar  which  he  pays  for  his  learning.  With 
most  it  has  been  a  great  struggle  to  reach  the  point  of 
normal  graduation,  and  then  the  best  salary  for  teaching 
at  present  available  is  open  to  them.  Every  influence 
urges  them  to  stop  here  and  reap  the  fruits  of  their 
hard-earned  attainment.  Some  have  brothers  and 


366 


'KOGRESS    OF    A     RACE. 


sisters  to  educate,  and  some  must  stay  at  home  to  earn 
the  money.  Others  have  mothers  and  fathers  who  are 
struggling  with  poverty  and  debt.  All  this  tends  to 


REV.    D.    J.    SANDERS,    D.D. 

President  of  Biddle  University,  Charlotte,  N.  C. 
keep  them  from  finishing  a  course  in  a  higher  institu- 
tion. 


EDUCATIONAL    IMPROVEMENT.  367 

Economic  Condition. — Dr.  J.  M.  Curry,  Secretary  of 
Trustees  of  Slater  Fund,  says:  "The  economic  condi- 
tion is  a  serious  drawback  to  mental  and  moral  progress. 
Want  of  thrift,  frugality,  foresight,  skill,  right  notions, 
of  consumption  of  property,  right  to  acquire  and  hold 
property,  has  made  the  race  the  victim  and  prey  of 
usurers  and  extortioners.  The  Negro  rarely  accumu- 
lates, for  he  does  not  keep  his  savings,  nor  put  them 
into  permanent  and  secure  investments.  While  it  is 
true  that  a  limited  number  of  colored  people  are  becom- 
ing wealthy,  it  is  equally  true  that  the  masses  have 
made  but  little  advancement  in  acquiring  property 
during  their  thirty  years  of  freedom.  On  the  great 
plantations  the  majority  live  in  one-room  cabins,  taber- 
nacling in  them  as  tenants  at  will.  The  poverty,  wretch- 
edness, hopelessness  of  the  present  life  are  sometimes 
in  pitiable  contrast  to  the  freedom  from  care  and 
anxiety,  the  cheerfulness  and  frolicsomeness  of  ante- 
bellum days. ' ' 

Mr.  Bryce,  the  most  philosophical  and  painstaking  of 
all  foreign  students  of  our  institutions,  in  the  last  edi- 
tion of  his  great  work,  says:  "There  is  no  ground  for 
despondency  to  any  one  who  remembers  how  hopeless 
the  extinction  of  slavery  seemed  fifty  or  even  forty 
years  ago,  and  who  marks  the  progress  the  Negroes 
have  made  since  their  sudden  liberation.  Still  less  is 
there  reason  for  impatience,  for  questions  like  this  have 
in  some  countries  of  the  old  world  required  ages  for 
their  solution.  The  problem  which  confronts  the  South 
is  one  of  the  great  secular  problems  of  the  world,  pre- 
sented here  under  a  form  of  peculiar  difficulty.  And  as 
the  present  differences  between  the  African  and  the 
European  are  the  products  of  thousands  of  years,  during 
which  one  race  was  advancing  in  the  temperate,  and 


PROGRESS   OF    A    RACfe. 

the  other  remaining  stationary  in  the  torrid,  zone,  so 
centuries  may  pass  before  their  relation  as  neighbors 
and  fellow-citizens  have  been  duly  adjusted.  It  would 
be  unjust  and  illogical  to  push  too  far  the  comparison 
and  deduce  inferences  unfair  to  the  Negro,  but  it  is  an 
interesting  coincidence  that  Japan  began  her  entrance 
into  the  family  of  civilized  nations  almost  contempo- 
raneously with  emancipation  in  the  United  States. ' ' 

A  Colored  Teacher  says:  "I  can  do  my  people  more 
good  than  I  am  doing  now,  if  you  will  let  me  devote 
two  afternoons  of  the  week  teaching  them  to  sew. 
They  come  to  school  untidy ;  their  garments  are  torn  ; 
their  sleeves  are  out  at  the  elbow ;  they  represent  the 
condition  of  their  homes  largely.  Now,  if  you  will  let 
me  teach  these  young  girls  to  sew,  I  can  teach  them 
to  be  ashamed  to  come  to  school  with  torn  clothes,  and 
I  believe  that  by  doing  this  I  will  influence  the  lives  of 
these  people  at  their  homes,  and  thereby  do  much 
more  than  I  am  now  doing. ' ' 

*  *  Well,  this  is  the  key  to  it.  The  young  woman  who 
teaches  the  country  school  should  be  something  more  to 
the  community  than  a  teacher  of  letters  to  the  children. 
She  should  be  a  person  who  would  teach  the  entire  com- 
munity,, either  directly  or  indirectly,  in  many  of  the 
simpler  home  arts,  those  arts  that  are  taught  in  all 
cultivated  homes,  white  or  colored.  A  school  thus 
presided  over  would  do  much  more  good  than  is  now 
done  by  the  ordinary  school  of  letters,  and  would 
accomplish,  I  believe,  at  the  same  time  better  scholastic 
results ;  for  who  does  not  know  that,  other  things  being 
equal,  the  best  scholastic  results  are  reached  by  men  of 
affairs* 

Many-Sided. — T.  Thomas  Fortune  says:  "There  are 
so  many  sides  to  a  race  problem  nearly  300  years  old, 


EDUCATIONAL    IMPROVEMENT.  369 

only  thirty-two  years  of  which  has  been  worked  out 
under  conditions  of  freedom,  that  a  reasonable  amount 
of  conservatism  should  govern  all  those  who  undertake 
to  discuss  any  phase  of  it.  The  Afro- American  prob- 
lem is  such  a  one.  Slavery  was  a  hard  school  in  many 
respects ;  freedom  is  a  harder  one. 

Effects  of  Slavery. — Slavery  destroys  entirely  the 
self-dependence  and  reliance  of  the  slave ;  and  when  he 
has  had  255  years  of  slave  education  and  only  thirty-two 
of  freedom  education  to  offset  it,  it  is  not  ease  to 
determine  just  what  is  best  for  him,  to  prepare  him  for 
the  responsibilities  of  manhood  and  citizenship. 

Poor  and  Ignorant. — When  slavery  was  abolished 
the  4,000,000  people  who  came  out  of  the  house  of 
bondage  possessed,  in  the  main,  no  book  education 
whatever.  They  were  equally  destitute  of  moral  and 
spiritual  education.  They  possessed  no  self-reliance. 
They  were  poor  in  head  and  heart  and  purse.  They 
were  compelled  to  begin  at  the  bottom  and  build  from 
the  ground  up  in  all  the  essentials  that  make  for  char- 
acter and  worth.  They  had  no  leaders,  no  teachers,  to 
guide  them  out  of  the  shadows  into  the  sunlight  of 
freedom.  If  they  had  been  left  to  their  own  devices, 
they  would  have  gone  to  pieces;  they  would  have 
justified  the  doleful  predictions  of  those  who  insisted 
that  they  were  destitute  of  the  common  attributes  of 
human  kind. 

Not  Left  Alone. — But  they  were  not  left  to  their 
own  devices.  The  friends  who^had  fought  their  battles 
when  they  were  slaves  remained  constant  to  them  when 
they  were  turned  loose  upon  the  land  with  freedom  as 
their  whole  stock  in  trade.  As  the  flower  of  the 
Northern  manhood  had  poured  out  its  life's  blood  on 
the  battlefield  to  save  the  Union  and  crush  the  slave 

24  Progress. 


370  PROGRESS   OF    A    RACE. 

power  through  four  years  of  war,  making  desolate 
thousands  upon  thousands  of  homes,  so,  in  the  wake  of 
the  vanishing  Northern  army,  there  followed  an  army 
of  Northern  women,  and  a  few  men,  imbued  with  the 
finest  missionary  spirit  that  ever  actuated  human  beings, 
who  planted  schools  and  seminaries  and  colleges  on 
the  ruins  of  the  war,  and  began  the  completion  of  the 
work  where  their  brothers  and  fathers  and  husbands 
had  left  it  off  at  Appomattox  Court  House,  wher 

'  The  war  drums  throbbed  no  longer,  and  the  battle  flags 

were  turl'd, 
In  the  Parliament  of  man,  The  Federation  of  the  world. ' 

Tribute  to  Northern  Women.— Without  the  work 
of  these  Northern  women  in  the  schoolhouses  and  the 
churches  and  the  homes  of  the  freed  men,  the  sacrifices 
of  their  male  relatives  in  the  war  would  have  been  in 
vain.  The  brave  soldier  laid  the  foundation  when  he 
achieved  the  freedom  of  the  blacks ;  his  sister  built 
upon  the  foundation  a  superstructure  of  mental  and 
moral  training  which  will  abide  and  influence  the  desti- 
nies of  the  republic  as  long  as  the  Afro- American  shall 
remain  an  indivisible  factor  of  our  national  life.  The 
public  school  systems  of  the  Southern  states  owe  their 
origin  to  the  devoted  efforts  and  .sacrifices  of  the 
Northern  men  and  women  who  flocked  into  the  South 
when  the  war  closed,  and  who  remained  there  as  long 
as  their  services  were  needed. 

Imperishable  Monuments. — All  the  colleges  and 
seminaries  scattered  all  over  the  South,  devoted  to  the 
higher  education  of  the  manumitted  slave,  were  founded 
and  fostered  by  the  same  devoted  spirits.  They  will 
stand  through  the  ages  as  imperishable  monuments, 
living  witnesses  that  selfishness  is  not  always  the  con- 
trolling influence  in  the  conduct  of  mankind.  The  vast 


EDUCATIONAL    IMPROVEMENT.  371 

volume  of  energy  and  wealth  lavished  by  the  North  upon 
the  education  of  the  f  reedmen  of  the  South  was  a  service 
to  humanity  and  to  the  republic  which  can  yield  no 
return  to  the  benefactors  save  the  satisfaction  of  having 
done  their  duty. ' ' 

Opinions. — Dr.  Curry  truly  says:  "  What  ever  may 
be  our  speculative  opinions  as  to  the  progress  and 
development  of  which  the  Negro  may  be  ultimately 
capable,  there  can  hardly  be  a  well-grounded  opposition 
to  the  opinion  that  the  hope  for  the  race  in  the  South 
is  to  be  found  not  so  much  in  the  high  courses  of 
university  instruction  or  in  schools  of  technology  as  in 
handicraft  instructions. 

Conclusions.  —  i.  '  It  follows  that  in  addition  to 
thorough  and  intelligent  training  in  the  discipline  of 
character  and  virtue,  there  should  be  given  rigid  and 
continuous  attention  to  domestic  and  social  life,  to  the 
refinement  and  comforts  and  economies  of  home. 

2.  Taught  in  the  economies  of  wise  consumption,  the 
race  should  be  trained  to  acquire  habits  of  thrift,  of 
saving  earnings,   of  avoiding  waste,   of  accumulating 
property,  of  having  a  stake  in  good  government,  in  pro- 
gressive civilization. 

3.  Besides  the  rudiments  of  a  good  and  useful  educa- 
tion there  is  imperative  need  of  manual  training,  of  the 
proper  cultivation  of  those  faculties  or  mental  qualities 
of  observation,  of  aiming  at  and  reaching  a  successful 
end,  and  of  such  facility  and  skill  in  tools,  in  practical 
industries,  as  will  insure  remunerative  employment  and 
give  the  power  which  comes  from  intelligent  work. 

4.  Clearer  and  juster  ideas  of  education,  moral  and 
intellectual,  obtained  in  cleaner  home  life  and  through 
respected  and  capable  teachers  in  schools  and  churches. 
The  ultimate  and  only  sure  reliance  for  the  education 


372  PROGRESS    OF    A    RACE. 

of  the  race  is  to  be  found  in  the  public  schools,  organ- 
ized,  controlled  and  liberally  supported  by  the  state. 

5.  Between  the  races  occupying  the  same  territory, 
possessing  under  the  law  equal  civil  rights  and  privi- 
leges, speculative  and  unattainable  standards  should  be 
avoided,  and  questions  should  be  met  as  they  arise,  not 
by  Utopian  and  partial  solutions,  but  by  the  impartial 
application  of  the  tests  of  justice,  right,  honor,  humanity, 
and  Christianity. ' ; 

Evolution,  not  Revolution. — The  emergence  of  a 
nation  from  barbarism  to  a  general  diffusion  of  intelli- 
gence and  property,  to  health  in  the  social  and  civil 
relations;  the  development  of  an  inferior  race  into  a 
high  degree  of  enlightenment ,  the  overthrow  of  customs 
and  institutions  which,  however  indefensible,  have  their 
seat  in  tradition  and  a  course  of  long  observance ;  the 
working  out  satisfactorily  of  political,  sociological  and 
ethical  problems,  are  all  necessarily  slow,  requiring 
patient  and  intelligent  study  of  the  teachings  of  history 
and  the  careful  application  of  something  more  than  mere 
empirical  methods.  Civilization,  freedom,  a  pure 
religion,  are  not  the  speedy  outcome  of  revolutions  and 
cataclysms  any  more  than  has  been  the  structure  of  the 
earth.  They  are  the  slow  evolution  of  orderly  and 
creative  causes,  the  result  of  law  and  pre-ordained 
principles. 

Five  Great  Institutions. — Now,  there  are,  as  we 
well  know,  five  great  institutions  that  are  so  distinctively 
educational  that  they  must  be  taken  into  consideration 
in  every  attempt  to  educate  the  Negro.  They  are  the 
family,  the  church,  the  state,  civil  society,  and  the 
school.  The  Negro  needs  the  influence  of  the  respon- 
sibilities and  the  privileges  of  all  these  five  institutions. 
He  must  be  taught  the  sacred  character  and  educational 


EDUCATIONAL   IMPROVEMENT.  373 

value  of  the  'family,  and  his  ideals  of  this  institution 
must  be  elevated  and  refined.  No  community — North 
South,  East  or  West — -having  the  Negro  to  educate, 
can  afford  to  neglect  this  important  matter,  or  so  to 
treat  him  in  any  way  that  he  shall  fail  of  its  high  civiliz- 
ing influence.  So  of  the  church.  Its  theory  of  life,  its 
view  of  the  world  and  of  the  destiny  of  man,  its  method 
and  practices,  must  all  be  made  plain  to  him,  and  he 
must  be  taught  to  organize  the  church  and  must  be 
allowed  to  carry  it  on  in  accordance  with  its  sacred 
character.  In  like  manner  he  must  be  taught  to  con- 
struct and  carry  on  a  civil  society  whose  public  opinion 
shall  stand  for  purity,  honesty  and  morality.  Again, 
he  must  be  allowed  to  take  his  rightful  part  in  the 
responsibilities  and  the  privileges  of  the  state;  for  the 
institution  of  the  state  is  little  less  educational  than  is 
the  school  itself.  The  state  cannot  afford  to  practice 
injustice  upon  even  its  poorest  subject,  lest  it  thus  give 
him  the  ideal  and  the  excuse  for  the  practice  of  injustice 
himself.  In  all  these  respects  the  Negro  is  susceptible 
to  the  same  general  action  and  reaction  of  institutions 
as  is  the  white  man,  and  those  who  have  his  education 
in  charge  will  succeed  well  or  ill  in  proportion  as  they 
regard  in  these  respects  his  human  characteristics. 

Prof.  Spence. — The  following  is  taken  from  an 
address  delivered  at  an  annual  meeting  of  the  Ameri- 
can Missionary  Association,  by  Prof.  A.  K.  Spence, 
Dean  of  Fisk  University,  after  an  experience  of  twenty- 
five  years  in  Negro  Education. 

Need  and  Fitness. — I  am  asked  how  the  work  of 
colored  education  looks  to  me  after  being  engaged  in 
it  a  quarter  of  a  century.  Just  twenty-five  years  ago, 
after  teaching  twelve  years  in  the  University  of  Michi- 
gan, I  went  to  Nashville,  Tennessee,  to  help  build  up 


374  PROGRESS  or  A  RACE. 

Fisk  University,  the  first  established  Negro  college  In 
the  world,  as  far  as  is  known.  The  venture  seemed  to 
many  great,  to  most,  perhaps,  even  rash.  What  need 
had  a  people  just  out  of  bondage  of  a  college — what 
fitness  for  it?  One  little  girl  in  the  school  could  read 
eight  or  ten  lines  of  easy  Latin  in  a  day.  Nearly  all 
the  pupils  were  in  primary  grades  of  English  studies. 
These  studies  still  went  on  with  the  mass,  while  the 
few  were  carried  toward  college,  and,  in  time,  through 
it. 

No  Mistake. — Was  that  early  effort  a  mistake?  Cer- 
tainly it  was  one  of  intense  interest  to  those  who  made 
it.  Like  early  navigators  we  were  out  on  new  seas  of 
discovery.  Would  we  come  to  the  charmed  circle 
beyond  which  the  Negro  mind  could  not  go?  We  would 
try,  and  when  we  came  to  that  fatal  place  we  would 
stop,  not  sooner.  There  may  be  some  question  of 
relative  speed  in  advancement,  but  we  never  came  to 
that  stopping  place.  For  twenty  years  now  college 
classes  have  been  graduated  with  a  fairly  high  standard 
of  scholarship,  making  in  all  a  total  of  nearly  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty,  not  to  mention  an  equal  number  of 
graduates  from  the  normal  course,  and  several  in  the- 
ology and  music.  Three  hundred  graduates  as  the 
result  of  thirty  years  of  labor,  beginning  at  the  zero 
point  in  1865,  seems  to  me  a  large  result.  Besides  this, 
great  numbers  have  been  educated  in  the  institution 
who  do  not  complete  a  course,  but  have  been  fitted 
to  do  much  good  among  their  people. 

Question  Settled. —  By  this  experiment  certainly 
one  thing  has  been  settled — the  ability  of  a  goodly  num- 
ber of  those  of  the  colored  race  to  receive  what  is  called 
a  liberal  education.  A  person  who  denies  that  shows  a 
lack  of  intelligence  on  the  subject. 


EDUCATIONAL   IMPROVEMENT.  375 

But  the  possibility  granted,  the  utility  of  this  educa- 
tion is  doubted  both  as  to  the  individual  and  as  to  the 
race.  First,  then,  as  to  the  individual,  aside  from  the 
mere  mercantile  advantage  derived  from  education, 
does  not  the  hunger  of  the  Negro  mind  for  knowledge 
prove  its  right  to  know,  its  capacity  show  that  it  should 
be  filled,  its  longing  that  it  should  be  satisfied  ? 
And  as  to  the  race  at  large,  does  it  not  need  within  it 
men  and  women  of  education?  How  would  it  be  with 
us  of  the  white  race  if  we  had  none  such  with  us — no 
educated  ministers,  doctors,  lawyers,  teachers,  profes- 
sors, writers,  thinkers?  All  the  preaching  to  eight  mil- 
lions of  people  in  the  United  States  is  done  by  colored 
preachers,  with  the  merest  exceptions  here  and  there. 
Do  these  Negroes  not  need  preparation  for  their  vastly 
responsible  calling?  The  entire  work  of  instruction 
in  the  colored  public  schools  of  the  South  is  done  by 
colored  teachers. 

These  teachers  cannot  be  prepared  in  the  white 
schools  and  colleges  of  the  South.  Where,  then,  shall 
they  be  prepared,  if  not  in  special  higher  institutions  of 
learning  open  to  them?  What  is  to  become  of  the  mil- 
lions of  colored  people  in  the  United  States. 

Leaders. — Who  are  to  be  their  leaders?  Doubtless 
persons  of  their  own  race.  Do  they  need  less  prepara- 
tion for  their  calling  than  do  members  of  the  white 
race  for  theirs?  Is  not  their  task  even  more  difficult? 
Have  they  not  questions  of  greater  intricacy  to  solve? 
Did  not  Moses  when  leading  ex-slaves  out  of  Egypt 
need  special  wisdom?  Are  not  the  colored  people  of 
today  "perishing  for  lack  of  knowledge"? 

Education  Required. — But  the  objector  will  say,  Why 
have  these  long  courses,  these  colleges  for  colored  peo- 
ple? Would  not  shorter  courses  be  as  well  or  even  better? 


876  PROGRESS   OF   A   RACE. 

The  following  is  my  belief  on  this  point,  after  twenty- 
five  years  of  thought  and  experience :  If  the  Negro  is 
equal  to  the  white  man  in  heredity  and  environment,  he 
needs  an  equal  chance  in  education ;  if  he  is  superior, 
he  can  get  on  with  less;  if  he  is  inferior,  he  needs  more. 
The  education  required  is  not  simply  that  of  books,  but 
of  life  in  Christian  homes,  such  as  are  supplied  in  nearly 
all  our  missionary  schools  for  that  people,  and  of  religion 
through  the  Christian  church  and  its  influences. 

Changed  Condition. — In  the  city  of  Nashville  we  have 
now  many  most  encouraging  examples  of  the  new  colored 
South,  not  only  in  schools,  but  in  neat  and  commodious 
houses,  with  the  appointments  of  modern  civilization  in 
which  refined  manners  prevail;  libraries  and  instru- 
ments of  music  are  found,  and  children  are  growing  up 
like  those  in  the  better  white  families.  There  are  already 
among  the  graduates  of  our  colored  institutions  of  learn- 
ing and  others  educated  in  them,  able  doctors,  lawyers, 
ministers,  teachers  and  men  of  business,  who  form  a 
society  but  little  known  among  many,  who  speak  as  by 
authority  and  say  that  the  case  of  the  Negro  is  hopeless. 
There  was  a  club  formed  recently  of  men  of  that  race 
who  gather  to  discuss  sociological  questions  as  to  health, 
thrift  and  general  welfare  pertaining  to  their  people. 
It  is  in  these  things  that  the  men  who  think  are  the 
men  who  do.  Colleges  and  schools  and  churches  are 
the  nerve  centers  of  the  race. 

Meharry  Medical  College. — There  is  in  Nashville  a 
very  successful  colored  medical  college,  the  Meharry 
Medical,  a  department  of  the  Central  Tennessee  Col- 
lege. A  number  of  Fisk  graduates  have  gone  there  for 
their  medical  education.  The  dean  has  informed  me 
that  they  stand  especially  well  because  of  their  "college 
training."  Many  Fisk  graduates  choose  the  medical 


EDUCATIONAL    IMPROVEMENT.  377 

profession,  to  which  there  is  a  great  call  in  the  needs  of 
the  colored  people.  Several  of  them  have  attended 
Northern  medical  colleges.  One  of  these  stood  first  in 
scholarship  in  a  class  of  one  hundred  in  the  medical 
department  of  Harvard  University.  A  few  are  succeed- 
ing in  law,  but  with  greater  difficulty.  A  dozen  or  more 
are  ministers  of  the  gospel,  mostly  in  Congregational 
churches.  The  girl  whom  I  found  in  1870  reading  daily 
a  few  lines  of  easy  Latin,  is  now,  after  many  years  of 
teaching  and  having  the  care  of  a  family,  "Field  Mis- 
sionary' '  for  a  large  part  of  Tennessee  under  a  board  of 
Baptist  women. 

Homes. — I  wish  I  could  take  you  to  many  homes  in 
Nashville  and  elsewhere  occupied  by  our  graduates  and 
former  students.  Say  what  you  will  as  to  the  new  white 
South,  there  certainly  is  a  new  colored  South,  one  very 
interesting  and  hopeful,  and  much  needing  both  our 
sympathy  and  aid. 

Slave  Pen,  Fort,  College.— Where  Fisk  now  stands 
in  its  beauty,  a  beacon  of  hope  to  a  race,  stood  once  a 
frowning  fort,  and  before  that  a  slave  pen.  When 
the  Union  troops  took  possession  of  Nashville,  they  girt 
it  about  with  a  series  of  fortifications  filled  with  men 
and  bristling  with  cannons,  that  swept  the  whole  field 
of  vision.  Vast  forces  were  concentrated  in  these  forts. 
Areas  outside  were  taken  and  retaken  by  the  enemy, 
but  these,  never.  Rejecting  any  idea  of  hostility,  ex- 
cept to  ignorance  and  sin,  let  us  in  our  turn,  at  all 
hazards,  hold  these  school  fortifications ;  hold  these  forts 
with  men  and  women,  and  sympathy  and  prayer.  Let 
this  work  of  Christian  patriotism  go  en.  If  we  do  not, 
God  will  require  it  at  our  hands  or  those  of  our  children. 

Life  Work. — I  entered  this  work  young.  I  come  back 
to  report  upon  it,  old.  If  I  had  many  lives,  I  would 


878 


EDUCATIONAL    IMPROVEMENT.  879 

give  them  over  again  to  this  cause.  It  is  yet  in  its 
infancy,  as  human  history  goes.  Already  from  the 
altars  of  our  schools  and  churches  many  have  lit  their 
torches  and  carried  them  into  the  darkness,  which  now 
twinkles  with  its  stars.  The  full  day  is  not  yet.  We 
will  not  see  it.  But  it  will  come.  Let  us  be  patient 
and  full  of  courage.  In  one  of  the  quaint  songs  of  my 
people,  for  myself  I  can  say,  *I  ain't  got  weary  yet. '  " 

Early  Schools. — As  soon  as  any  part  of  the  seceding 
states  was  occupied  by  the  Union  army,  efforts  were  at 
once  begun  to  give  the  Negro  some  schooling.  Sep- 
tember, 1861,  under  the  guns  of  Fortress  Monroe,  a 
school  for  the  "Contrabands  of  War"  was  opened. 
In  1862  they  were  extended  south  to  the  Carolinas. 
The  Proclamation  of  Emancipation  in  1863  gave  free- 
dom to  all  slaves  reached  by  the  armies,  increased  the 
refugees,  and  awakened  an  enthusiasm  for  meeting  the 
physical,  moral  and  intellectual  needs  of  those  suddenly 
thrown  upon  charity.  The  first  public  school  for 
Louisiana  was  opened  in  October,  1863. 

General  Eaton. — As  early  as  1861  schools  were  open- 
ed at  Hampton,  Virginia,  near  the  spot  where  the  first 
slaves  were  landed  in  1619.  In  1863  there  had  collected 
in  one  place  in  Mississippi  so  many  colored  people  eager 
to  be  taught  that  General  Grant  called  to  the  charge  of 
this  work  General  John  Eaton,  who  afterward  was  made 
United  States  Commissioner  of  Education.  General 
Eaton  served  the  freedmen  from  1863  to  1865.  He 
had  under  him  at  one  time  as  many  as  770,000  people. 
The  work  which  General  Eaton  did  for  the  colored 
people  was  truly  wonderful.  One  of  the  most  creditable 
and  noteworthy  features  of  his  work  was»the  fact  that  the 
colored  people  paid  out  of  their  own  earnings  for  their 
education  under  him  nearly  a  quarter  of  a  million 
dollars. 


380  PROGRESS    OF    A    RACE. 

The  Freedmen's  Bureau.— By  act  of  Congress,  March 
3,1865,  the  Freedmen's  Bureau  was  created.  Its  work 
extended  far  beyond  education,  embracing  abandoned 
lands,  and  supplying  the  Negroes  with  food  and  cloth- 
ing. General  Howard  was  appointed  Commissioner, 
with  assistants.  The  Bureau  founded  many  schools  in 
localities  which  had  been  in  the  line  of  the  Union  armies, 
and  these  with  the  others  established  by  its  agency, 
were  placed  under  some  systematic  supervision.  In 
some  states  schools  were  carried  on  entirely  by  aid  of 
the  funds  of  the  Bureau,  but  it  had  the  co-operation  and 
assistance  of  several  religious  and  benevolent  societies. 
A  full  history  of  the  Freedmen's  Bureau  would  furnish 
an  interesting  chapter  in  Negro  education.  But  it 
seems  that  no  complete  report  can  be  given  on  account 
of  the  disordered  state  of  the  records. 

Assisting  Agencies. — The  Freedmen's  Bureau  was 
authorized  to  act  in  co-operation  with  religious  and 
benevolent  societies  in  the  education  of  the  Negro.  A 
number  of  these  organizations  had  done  good  service 
before  the  establishment  of  the  Bureau,  and  continued 
their  work  afterwards.  The  teachers  earliest  in  the 
field  were  from  the  American  Missionary  Association, 
Western  Freedmen's  Aid  Commission,  American 
Baptist  Home  Missionary  Society,  and  the  Society  of 
Friends.  After  the  surrender  of  Vicksburg  others  were 
sent  by  the  United  Presbyterians,  Reformed  Presby- 
terians, United  Brethren  of  Christ,  Northwestern 
Freedmen's  Aid  Commission,  and  the  National  Freed- 
men's Aid  Association.  The  first  colored  school  in 
Vicksburg  was  started  by  the  United  Brethren  in  the 
basement  of  a  Methodist  church. 

American  Missionary  Association. — The  American 
Missionary  Association  was  the  chief  body  apart  frorn 


EDUCATIONAL    IMPROVEMENT.  381 

the  government  in  the  great  enterprise  of  meeting  the 
needs  of  the  Negroes.  It  did  not  relinquish  its  philan- 
thropic work  because  army  officers  and  the  Federal 
government  were  working  along  the  same  line.  Up  to 
1866  its  receipts  were  swollen  by  "the  aid  of  the  Free 
Will  Baptists,  the  Wesleyans,  the  Congregationalists, 
and  Friends  in  Great  Britain."  From  Great  Britain  it 
is  estimated  that  "a  million  dollars  in  money  and  cloth- 
ing were  contributed  through  various  channels  for  the 
F-reedmen. "  The  third  decade  of  the  association,  1867- 
1876,  was  a  marked  era  in  its  financial  history.  The 
Freedmen's  Bureau  turned  over  a  large  sum,  which 
could  be  expended  only  in  buildings.  A  Congressional 
report  says  that  between  December,  1866,  and  May, 
1870,  the  association  received  $243,753.22.  Since  the 
association  took  on  a  more  distinctive  and  separate 
denominational  character,  because  of  the  withdrawal  of 
other  denominations  into  associations  of  their  own,  it, 
along  with  its  church  work,  has  prosecuted,  with  una- 
bated energy  and  marked  success,  its  educational  work 
among  the  Negroes. 

Control  and  Support. — It  has  now  under  its  control 
or  support  78  schools,  consisting  of:  Chartered  institu- 
tions, 6;  normal  schools,  29;  common  schools,  43.  In 
these  schools  are  389  instructors  and  12,609  pupils. 
The  pupils  are  classified  as  follows:  Theological,  47; 
collegiate,  57;  college  preparatory,  192;  normal,  1,091; 
grammar,  2,378;  intermediate,  3,692;  primary,  5,152. 

Two-fold  Work. — The  work  of  the  association  is 
among  all  kinds  of  people,  from  Florida  to  Alaska, 
education  and  evangelization  going  hand  in  hand. 

Its  educational  work  stretches  all  the  way  from  ele- 
mentary teaching  in  small  schools  through  the  various 
grades  to  large  institutions  for  higher  education.  It 


O^J  PROGRESS    OF    A    RACE. 

always  emphasizes  self-help  and  self-education.  It 
everywhere  provides  for  the  industrial  training  of  both 
boys  and  girls. 

Teachers. — A  great  share  of  its  work  consists  in  sup- 
plying hundreds  of  teachers  every  year  for  tens  of 
thousands  of  pupils  all  through  the  needy  rural  com- 
munities of  the  South.  It  also  has  in  training  ministers 
who  are  rapidly  developing  churches  and  church  mis- 
sions. During  the  last  year  forty  new  churches  have 
been  organized  with  over  a  thousand  members.  At 
the  present  time  great  demands  come  to  it  for  mission 
work  among  the  country  districts  of  the  South.  Both 
our  pastors  and  its  teachers  in  the  mountain  fields 
report  growth  and  a  still  more  rapid  increase  of  oppor- 
tunities for  service.  Indian  schools  and  missions  are 
being  carried  on  with  severe  self-denial  on  account  of 
the  lessened  resources.  The  woman's  work  continues 
its  activities  in  co-operation  with  forty-two  state  organ- 
izations whose  increased  contributions  last  year,  amount- 
ed to  over  $29,000. 

Freedmen's  Aid  and  Southern  Society. — In  1866 
was  organized  the  Freedmen's  Aid  and  Southern  Society 
of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  Under  that 
compact,  powerful,  well-disciplined,  enthusiastic  organ- 
ization more  than  $6,000,000  have  been  expended  in 
the  education  of  the  Negroes.  Dr.  Hartzell,  said  before 
the  World's  Congress  in  Chicago,  that  Wilberforce 
University,  at  Xenia,  Ohio,  was  established  in  1857  as 
a  college  for  colored  people,  and  "  continues  to  be  the 
chief  educational  center  of  African  Methodism  in  the 
United  States. "  He  reports,  as  under  various  branches 
of  Methodism,  65  institutions  of  learning,  for  colored 
people;  388  teachers;  10, 100  students;  $1,905,150  of 
property,  and  $652,500  of  endowment. 


EDUCATIONAL    IMPROVEMENT.  383 

Baptist  Home  Missionary  Society.— This  society 
supports  Spelman  Seminary,  Shaw  University,  Atlanta 
Baptist  Seminary,  and  other  schools,  and  has  done  a 
good  work  among  the  Negroes. 

Peabody  Fund. — On  February  6,  1867,  George  Pea- 
body  gave  to  certain  gentlemen  $2,000,000  in 
trust,  to  be  used  "for  the  promotion  of  intellectual, 
moral  or  industrial  education  among  the  young  of  the 
more  destitute  portions  of  the  Southwestern  states  of 
our  Union. ' '  The  fund  now  acts  exclusively  with  state 
systems,  and  continues  support  to  Negroes  more 
efficiently  through  such  agencies.  To  realize  what  it 
has  accomplished  is  difficult — impossible  unless  we  esti- 
mate sufficiently  the  obstacles  and  compare  the  facilities 
of  today  with  the  ignorance  and  bondage  of  a  generation 
ago  when  some  statutes  made  it  an  indictable  offense  to 
teach  a  slave  or  free  person  of  color.  The  results  have 
truly  been  remarkable. 

John  F.  Slater  Fund. — In  his  letter  establishing  this 
trust  is  the  following  clause :  "The  general  object  which 
I  desire  to  have  exclusively  pursued  is  the  uplifting  of 
the  lately  emancipated  population  of  the  Southern  states 
and  their  posterity,  by  conferring  on  them  the  blessings 
of  Christian  education."  This  fund  has  been  the 
potential  agency  in  enlightening  public  opinion  and  in 
working  out  the  problem  of  the  education  of  the  Negro. 
In  view  of  the  apprehensions  felt  by  all  thoughtful 
persons,  when  the  duties  and  privileges  of  citizenship 
were  suddenly  thrust  upon  millions  of  lately  emancipated 
slaves,  Mr.  Slater  conceived  the  purpose  of  giving  a 
large  sum  of  money  to  their  proper  education.  After 
deliberate  reflection  and  much  conference,  he  selected  a 
board  of  trust,  and  placed  in  their  hands  $1,000,000. 
This  unique  gift,  originating  wholly  with  himself,  and 


384  PROGRESS    OF    A    RACE. 

elaborated  in  his  own  mind  in  most  of  its  details,  was 
for  "the  uplifting  of  the  lately  emancipated  population 
of  the  Southern  states  and  their  posterity,  by  conferring 
on  them  the  blessings  of  Christian  education."  "Not 
only  for  their  own  sake,  but  also  for  the  sake  of  our 
common  country,"  he  sought  to  provide  "the  means  of 
such  education  as  shall  tend  to  make  them  good  men 
and  good  citizens. ' ' 

Reflex  Influence.  —  The  reflex  influence  of  Mr. 
Slater's  beneficence,  we  are  persuaded,  has  been  great. 
We  cannot  estimate  the  good  we  do  when  we  do 
good.  The  effect  of  this  splendid  beneficence  in  stimu- 
lating philanthropic  enterprise,  passing  as  it  has  into 
the  currency  of  popular  thought  as  a  quickening  inspir- 
ation, its  impetus  to  the  noble  army  of  workers  for  the 
uplifting  of  the  race,  has  been  enormous.  Its  inspira- 
tion and  influence  upon  this  greatest  decade  of  giving 
in  all  the  history  of  the  world  has  been  immense, 
we  are  confident.  Other  millions  have  gotten  into 
the  wake  of  this  one;  and  we  believe  that  other 
men  to  whom  God  has  given  wealth,  and  into  whose 
hearts  the  passion  of  the  cross  has  been  poured,  are  to 
be  moved  by  it  to  the  breaking  of  their  costly  boxes  of 
alabaster  in  the  presence  of  the  world's  Christ.  Such 
men  are,  and  are  to  be,  the  saving  and  enduring  forces 
of  the  world. 

The  following  article,  taken  from  the  Independent 
of  August  19,  1897,  is  commended  to  the  reader.  Its 
author's  ability  is  well  known.  His  opinions  deserve 
consideration: 


EDUCATIONAL    IMPROVEMENT.  385 

THE  PRIME  NEED  OF  THE  NEGRO  RACE. 

BY    ALEX.    CRUMMELL,    D.    D. 

Late  Rector  of  St.  Luke's  Protestant  Episcopal  Church, 
Washington,  D.  C. 

Incidents  for  Problems. — Unfortunately,  men  often 
misconceive  some  of  the  larger  incidents  of  life  for  its 
problems,  and  thus,  unconsciously,  they  hinder  the  prog- 
ress of  the  race. 

Just  such  a  mistake,  if  I  err  not,  has  arisen  with 
regard  to  the  solution  of  the  "  Negro  Problem"  in  the 
South.  "  It  may  be  seen  in  the  divergence  of  two  classes 
of  minds:  the  one  maintains  that  industrialism  is  the 
solution  of  the  Negro  problem ;  and  another  class,  while 
recognizing  the  need  of  industrial  skill,  maintains  that 
culture  is  the  true  solution. 

Civilization. — The  thing  of  magnitude  in  the  South, 
all  must  admit,  is  the  civilization  of  a  new  race.  The 
question  is,  then,  how  is  this  civilization  to  be  produced? 
Is  industrialism  the  prime  consideration?  Is  the  Negro 
to  be  built  up  from  the  material  side  of  his  nature? 

Industrialism. — But  industrialism  is  no  new  thing  in 
Negro  life  in  this  country.  It  is  simply  a  change  in  the 
old  phase  of  Southern  Society.  It  is,  in  fact,  but  an 
incident;  doubtless  a  large,  and  in  some  respects,  a 
vital  one.  It  would  be  the  greatest  folly  to  ignore  its 
vast  importance.  Yet  it  is  not  to  be  forgotten  that  the 
Negro  has  been  in  this  "school  of  labor"  under  slavery 
in  America,  fully  two  hundred  and  fifty  years;  and 
every  one  knows  that  it  has  never  produced  his  civiliza- 
tion. That  it  was  crude,  previous  to  emancipation ;  that 
it  is  to  be  enlightened  labor  now,  in  a  state  of  freedom, 
is  manifestly  but  an  alteration  in  the  form  of  an  old  and 
settled  order  of  life. 

25  Progress. 


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EDUCATIONAL    IMPROVEMENT.  387 

New  Problem. — When  the  Negro  passed  from  under 
the  yoke  he  left  a  state  of  semi-barbarism  behind  him, 
put  his  feet  for  the  first  time  within  the  domain  of 
civilization,  and  immediately  there  sprang  up  before 
him  a  new  problem  of  life,  But  that  problem  is  not 
industrialism.  That  is  simply  the  modification  of  an 
old  condition ;  for  it  is  but  the  introduction  of  intelli- 
gence into  the  crudeness  of  the  old  slave-labor  system. 

A  Question. — The  other  question,  then,  presents 
itself — is  not  the  Negro's  elevation  to  come  from  the 
quickening  and  enlightenment  of  his  higher  nature?  Is 
it  to  come  from  below  or  from  above? 

Higher  Culture. — It  seems  manifest  that  the  major 
factor  in  this  work  for  the  Negro  is  his  higher  culture. 
There  is  not  dispute  as  to  the  need  of  industrialism. 
This  is  a  universal  condition  of  life  everywhere.  But 
there  is  not  need  of  an  undue  and  overshadowing  exag- 
geration of  it  in  the  case  of  the  Negro. 

A  Result,  not  a  Cause. — And,  first  of  all,  industrial- 
ism itself  is  a  result  in  man's  civilization,  not  a  cause. 
It  may  exist  in  a  people  and  with  much  excellence  for 
ages,  and  still  that  people  may  "lie  in  dull  obstruction, " 
semi-barbarous  and  degraded.  We  see  in  all  history 
large  populations  moving  in  all  the  planes  of  industrial 
life,  both  low  and  high,  and  yet  paralyzed  in  all  the  high 
springs  of  action,  and  for  the  simple  reason  that  the 
hand  of  man  gets  its  cunning  from  the  brain.  And 
without  the  enlightened  brain  what  is  the  hand  of  man 
more  than  the  claw  of  a  bird  or  the  foot  of  a  squirrel? 
In  fine,  without  the  enlightened  brain,  where  is  civili- 
zation. 

A  New  Factor. — The  Negro  race,  then,  needs  a  new 
factor  for  its  life  and  being,  and  this  new  factor  must 
come  from  a  more  vitalizing  source  than  any  material 


388  PROGRESS   OF    A    RACE. 

condition.  The  end  of  industrialism  is  thrift,  prosperity 
or  gain.  But  civilization  has  a  loftier  object  in  view. 
It  is  to  make  men  grander ;  it  is  to  exalt  them  in  the 
scale  of  being ;  and  its  main  energy  to  this  end  is  the 
"higher  culture." 

Greatness  Comes  from  Altitudes. — Observe,  then, 
just  here,  that  "every  good  gift  and  every  perfect  gift 
conies  from  above. ' '  I  have  no  hesitation  in  using  this 
text  (albeit  thus  abbreviated)  as  an  aphorism.  And 
what  I  wish  to  say  in  its  interpretation  is  this,  viz. ,  that 
all  the  greatness  of  men  comes  from  altitudes.  All 
the  improvement,  the  progress,  the  culture,  the  civili- 
zation of  men  come  from  somewhere  above.  They 
never  come  from  below ! 

Culture  of  Human  Society. — Just  as  the  rains  and 
dews  come  down  from  the  skies  and  fall  upon  the  hills  and 
plains  and  spread  through,  the  fields  of  earth  with  fertil- 
izing power,  so,  too,  with  the  culture  of  human  society. 
Some  exalted  man,  some  great  people,  some  marvelous 
migration,  some  extraordinary  and  quickening  culti- 
vation, or  some  divine  revelation,  "from  above"  must 
come  to  any  people  ere  the  processes  of  true  and 
permanent  elevation  can  begin  among  them.  And  this 
whole  process  I  call  civilization. 

A  Heritage. — If  a  more  precise  and  definite  meaning 
to  this  word  is  demanded,  I  reply  that  I  use  it  as 
indicative  of  letters,  literature,  science  and  philosophy. 
In  other  words,  that  this  Negro  race  is  to  be  lifted  up  to 
the  acquisition  of  the  higher  culture  of  the  age.  This 
culture  is  to  be  made  a  part  of  its  heritage ;  not  at  some 
distant  day,  but  now  and  all  along  the  development  of 
the  race.  And  no  temporary  fad  of  doubting  or  pur- 
blind philanthropy  is  to  be  allowed  to  make  "industrial 
training' '  a  substitute  for  it. 


EDUCATIONAL    IMPROVEMENT.  S80 

Leaders. — For,  first  of  all,  it  is  only  a  dead  people 
who  can  be  put  into  a  single  groove  of  life.  And,  next, 
every  live  people  must  have  its  own  leaders  as  molders 
of  its  thought  and  determiners  of  its  destiny :  men,  too, 
indigenous  to  the  soil  in  race  and  blood. 

Thought  Makes  the  World.— It  is  thought  that 
makes  the  world — high,  noble,  prophetic,  exalted  and 
exalting  thought.  It  is  this  that  makes  races  and 
nations,  industries  and  trades,  farming  and  commerce ; 
and  not  the  reverse  of  this,  i.  e.,  that  these  make 
thought  and  civilization.  And  without  thought,  yea, 
scientific  thought,  peoples  will  remain  everlastingly 
children  and  underlings,  the  mere  tools  and  puppets  of 
the  strong. 

From  the  Schools. — And  such  thought,  in  these  days, 
comes  from  the  schools.  The  leaders  of  races  must 
have  wisdom,  science,  culture  and  philosophy.  One 
such  man  has  often  determined  the  character  and 
destiny  of  his  race  for  centuries. 

Optned  to  the  Negro  Mind.— This  does  not  mean 
that  noodles  and  numbskulls  shall  be  sent  to  college; 
nor  that  every  Negro  shall  be  made  a  scholar ;  nor  that 
there  shall  be  a  waste  of  time  and  money  upon  inca- 
pacity. No  one  can  make  a  thimble  hold  the  contents 
of  a  bucket !  But  what  it  does  mean  is  this,  that  the 
whole  world  of  scholarship  shall  be  opened  to  the  Negro 
mind ;  and  that  it  is  not  to  be  fastened,  temporarily  or 
permanently  to  the  truck -patch  or  to  the  hoe,  to  the 
anvil  or  to  the  plane ;  that  the  Negro  shall  be  allowed 
to  do  his  own  thinking  in  any  and  every  sphere,  and  not 
to  have  that  thinking  relegated  to  others.  It  means 
that  when  genius  arises  in  this  race  and  elects,  with 
flaming  torch,  to  push  its  way  into  the  grand  arcanum 
of  philosophy  or  science  or  imagination,  no  bar  shall 


ISliHii'i, 


390 


EDUCATIONAL   IMPROVEMENT.  891 

be  raised  against  its  entrance ;  albeit  it  be  incarnated  in 
a  form  deeply  tinged  with 

"The  shadowed  livery  of  the  burnished  sun." 
Conclusions. — I  submit: 

1.  That  civilization  is  the  foremost,  deepest  need  of 
the  Negro  race. 

2.  That  the  " higher  culture"  is  its  grandest  source. 

3.  That  the  gift  to  the  Negro  of  the  scientific  mind, 
by    Fisk   and   Clark   and   Lincoln,    and    Oberlin    and 
Howard  and  Yale,  and  Harvard  and  other  colleges,  is 
of  the  most  incalculable  value  to  the  black  race. 

United  Action. — There  is  probably  no  dissent  from 
the  above  opinion  of  Dr.  Crummell.  Even  the  leaders 
in  industrial  education  have  repeatedly  declared  them- 
selves in  favor  of  the  broadest  culture  possible.  While 
there  may  be  differences  of  opinion  in  the  practical 
working,  yet  all  are  laboring  diligently  for  the  one  great 
end — the  elevation  of  the  race. 

Educational  Institutions. — It  is  impossible  in  the 
brief  space  allotted  to  us  to  make  special  mention  of 
many  of  the  excellent  schools  for  the  colored  race. 
Some  that  are  not  mentioned  we  would  have  been 
glad  to  mention,  but  were  unable  to  secure  the  need- 
ed information.  This  chapter  is  prepared  at  .a 
time  when  the  schools  are  closed.  No  doubt  when 
the  forms  are  closed  much  of  the  desired  informa- 
tion will  be  at  hand,  too  late  to  use.  We  have  done  the 
best  with  the  facts  at  hand. 

In  the  last  chapter  will  be  found  statistics  of  all 
schools  of  the  colored  race. 

Hampton  Normal  and  Agricultural  Institute.— 
This  institution  was  opened  in  April,  1868.  In  1870  It 
was  chartered  by  special  act  of  the  General  Assembly 
of  Virginia.  It  is  not  owned  or  controlled  by  state  or 


392  PROGRESS   OF    A    RACE. 

government,  but  by  a  board  of  seventeen  trustees, 
representing  different  sections  of  the  country,  and  six 
religious  denominations,  no  one  of  which  has  a 
majority. 

Object. — The  object  of  its  founders  was  to  train 
selected  Negro  youth  so  that  they  could  go  out  and  teach 
and  lead  their  people,  first,  by  example,  and  by  getting 
land  and  homes,  to  give  them  not  a  dollar  they  could 
earn  for  this,  to  teach  respect  for  labor,  to  replace  stupid 
drudgery  with  skilled  hands,  and  to  these  ends  to  build 
up  an  industrial  system  for  the  sake  not  only  of  self- 
support  and  intelligent  labor,  but  also  for  the  sake  of 
character.  From  the  first  it  has  been  true  to  the  idea 
of  education  by  self-support.  Nothing  is  asked  for  the 
student  that  he  can  provide  by  his  own  labor. 

Annual  Cost. — The  school  is  maintained  at  an  annual 
cost  of  about  $175,000;  deducting  the  labor  payments 
of  Negro  students,  say  $55,000,  $120,000.  This  is  pro- 
vided for  in  part  by  one-third  of  the  amount  allowed 
the  state  of  Virginia  under  the  Land  Grant  Act  and  the 
Morrill  Act  in  aid  of  agricultural  schools,  by  an  appro- 
priation from  Congress  to  pay  the  board,  etc.,  of  120 
Indians,  with  aid  from  the  Slater  and  Peabody  funds. 
The  large  balance  is  met  by  contributions  from  friends 
of  the  Negro  and  Indian  races. 

Valuation  of  Property. — The  cost  or  the  valuation 
of  property  owned  by  the  institution  is  about  $600,000. 
There  are  about  fifty  buildings.  The  home  farm  con- 
sists of  150  acres,  the  grass  and  dairy  farm,  four  miles 
distant,  600  acres.  Both  are  cultivated  by  students, 
and  the  products  used  or  sold. 

Enrollment. — The  enrollment  for  the  years  1896  and 
1897  is  as  follows:  Negro  young  men,  305;  Negro 
young  women,  187;  making  a  total  of  492,  Indian 


EDUCATIONAL   IMPROVEMENT.  /*'*    893 

young  men,  87;  Indian  young  women,  51;  total,  138. 
Besides  these  there  are  320  children  in  the  Whittier 
School,  or  primary  department,  making  a  total  of  950 
students,  representing  twenty  states  and  territories. 

Teachers  and  Officers.— There  are  80  teachers, 
officers,  assistants  and  managers  about  half  of  whom 
arc  in  the  industrial  department, 

Girls'  Industries. — Housework,  laundering,  sewing, 
tailoring,  dressmaking,  cooking,  and  training  in  the  use 
of  carpenter's  tools. 

Boys'  Industries. —  Farming,  carpentering,  house 
painting,  wheelwrighting,  tailoring,  harness  making, 
printing,  engineering,  machine  knitting,  floriculture, 
and  the  machinists'  trade. 

Graduates. — Nine-tenths  of  the  909  Negro  graduates, 
besides  many  undergraduates,  have  done  good  work  in 
teaching,  and  about  three-fourths  have  made  it  their 
life  work.  They  are  also  earnest  workers  in  the  Sun- 
day school,  and  in  behalf  of  temperance. 

The  thirty-thousand  free  Negro  schools  of  the  South 
need  nothing  so  much  as  well-trained  teachers.  Vir- 
ginia's twenty-five  hundred  colored  schools  are  not 
nearly  supplied.  No  harvest  field  in  the  land,  or  in  the 
world,  is  more  urgent  than  this. 

Trade  Schools. — The  need  of  a  trade  school  to  equip 
young  men  who  could  not  only  do  good  work  themselves 
but  also  reach  others  has  long  been  felt,  and  in  the  fall 
of  1896  a  large  and  thoroughly  equipped  building  was 
opened,  followed  by  a  very  successful  term,  and  another 
building  of  similar  size  is  now  going  up  in  which  the 
young  men  receive  a  like  training  in  domestic  science. 

Field  Missionary. — One  of  the  colored  graduates  is 
employed  as  field  missionary,  whose  work  is  to  visit 
graduates  and  ex-students,  their  homes,  schools,  farms. 


394  PROGRESS   OF    A    RACE. 

shops,  and  also  to  keep  the  school  informed  as  to  what 
they  are  doing,  to  assure  them  of  continued  interest  in 
their  welfare  and  usefulness,  and  to  encourage  and  help 
them  to  be  in  their  communities  ministers  of  Christ, 
cultivating  industrious  habits  and  intelligent  labor.  He 
visits  schools  for  the  purpose  of  selecting  good  student 
material  for  Hampton. 

Negro  Education. — The  North  and  South  are  work- 
ing together  for  the  Negro  for  whose  education  no  less 
than  $4,000,000  annually  in  taxation  and  donations  are 
raised. 

Agriculture. — The  need  of  developing  and  improving 
agricultural  work  in  the  school,  always  a  prominent 
feature,  has  take,n  new  impetus  and  a  thoroughly  organ- 
ized system  for  teaching  agriculture  scientifically  and 
practically  has  been  introduced.  Seventy-five  per  cent, 
of  the  Southern  Negroes  are  still  renters  of  land  held 
under  a  mortgage  system  in  a  very  real  sort  of  slavery. 

Outgrowth  of  Hampton. — Tuskegee,  Calhoun,  Mt. 
Meigs,  Gloucester,  Kittrell,  Laurenceville,   and  other 
outgrowths  of  Hampton  are  showing  what  can  be  done, 
toward  helping  the  people  to  get  land  for  their  own  and 
making  them  self-respecting  citizens. 

"The  Southern  Workman." — This  is  the  paper  pub- 
lished by  the  school  and  is  a  great  help  in  bringing  to 
the  country  a  knowledge  of  the  true  condition  of  the 
Negro.  It  probably  gives  fuller  and  juster  information 
regarding  the  condition  and  wants  of  the  Southern  col- 
ored people  than  any  other  periodical. 

A  Record  of  Its  Work. — If  any  one  should  doubt  as 
to  the  advisability  of  educating  the  Negro  we  would 
recommend  the  reading  of  the  volume,  "  Twenty- two 
Years'  Work  of  Hampton  Normal  and  Agricultural 
Institute. ' '  This  certainly  must  satisfy  every  one  that 


EDUCATIONAL    IMPROVEMENT.  395 

the  colored  people  are  improving  both  in  morals  and 
intelligence;  that  they  are  becoming  less  dependent 
upon  the  charities  of  the  white  race,  and  that  they  now 
see  that  it  is  no  disgrace  to  work. 

A  Remarkable  Record. — This  volume  gives  a  remark- 
able record  of  more  than  nine  hundred  graduates  of 
Hampton.  A  large  number  of  them  are  engaged  in 
teaching,  others  are  in  the  ministry,  a  number  are 
merchants,  and  not  a  few  are  cultivating  farms.  Most 
of  them  have  homes  of  their  own  and  property  worth 
from  five  hundred  to  five  thousand  dollars.  Not  the 
least  benefit  that  Hampton  is  to  the  race  is  the  influ- 
ence that  these  graduates  exert  in  the  communities  in 
which  they  live. 

Fisk  University  is  now  in  the  thirty-second  year  of  its 
existence.  From  its  incipiency  until  today  it  has  been 
under  the  auspices  and  fostering  care  of  the  American 
Missionary  Association.  The  school  was  formally 
opened  January  9,  1866,  in  the  old  army  hospital  west 
of  the  Chattanooga  depot.  In  the  year  1871  the  univer- 
sity sent  out  a  concert  troupe,  known  as  the  Jubilee 
Singers.  For  seven  years  they  sang  with  great  accept- 
ance both  in  this  country  and  in  Europe,  and  realized 
the  sum  of  $150,000,  \vith  which  the  present  site  of 
the  university  was  bought  and  Jubilee  Hall  was  erected. 
There  now  stand  upon  the  university  grounds  five 
beautiful  brick  buildings,  the  Memorial  Chapel,  built 
of  stone,  and  one  frame  building.  The  present  plant 
of  the  university  could  not  be  replaced  with  $350,000. 
The  campus  comprises  thirty-five  acres  of  land,  and 
the  site  is  universally  conceded  to  be  one  of  the  most 
beautiful  about  Nashville.  From  the  beginning  the 
university  has  stood  for  the  higher  education  of  the 
colored  race;  and,  although  it  embraces  departments 


396  PROGRESS   *F    A    RACE. 

of  domestic  science  and  industrial  training,  the  empha- 
sis is  laid  upon  its  classical  course  of  study.  Since  1875 
there  have  been  graduated  163  from  college  and  150 
from  the  normal  department,  making  a  total  of  313,  or 
an  average  of  ten  alumni  for  each  of  the  thirty  years  of 
the  university's  existence.  This  is  a  good  showing  of 
the  work  done  by  the  school,  when  we  remember  that 
it  started  thirty-two  years  ago  with  freedmen  who  had 
not  more  than  the  barest  elements  of  primary  educa- 
tion. In  addition  to  the  college  and  normal  alumni, 
there  have  been  graduated  five  from  the  theological 
department,  which  is  only  four  years  old,  and  six 
from  the  department  of  music, 

Work  of  the  Alumni. — The  excellence  of  the  work 
done  in  Fisk  University  has  elicited  again  and  again 
the  warmest  praise  of  the  friends  of  higher  education. 
Nearly  all  the  alumni  are  holding  positions  of  honor 
and  trust  Eight  of  the  teachers  at  Tuskegee  are  grad- 
uates from  Fisk  University.  For  a  number  of  years  the 
presidents  and  most  of  the  faculty  of  Alcorn  Industrial 
College,  at  Rodney,  Mississippi,  have  been  alumni  from 
Fisk.  The  same  thing  is  true  of  the  State  Normal 
School  at  Hempstead,  Texas.  An  alumnus  of  Fisk, 
who  was  recently  professor  of  Greek  and  Latin  at  Wil- 
berforce  University,  then  had  a  fellowship  in  the  Uni- 
versity of  Pennsylvania,  is  now  professor  of  economics 
in  Atlanta  University.  Another  alumnus  is  instructor 
in  Greek  in  Howard  University,  in  Washington;  and 
still  another  is  instructor  in  Hebrew  and  Old  Testament 
literature  in  his  Alma  Mater.  Eight  of  the  alumni  have 
done  missionary  work  in  Africa,  The  young  woman 
who  is  in  charge  of  the  musical  department  in  Booker 
T.  Washington's  School  at  Tuskegee  is  a  graduate  in 
music  from  Fisk.  The  reputation  of  the  school  for 


897 


398  PROGRESS    OF    A    RACE. 

broad  and  thorough  scholarship  has  gone  throughout  the 
South,  and  the  president,  E.  M.  Cravath,  D.  D.,  often 
receives  applications  for  teachers  from  school  superin- 
tendents and  principals  in  different  sections  of  the 
South.  The  character  of  the  work  done  in  Fisk  13  ni- 
versity  has  gained  for  it  the  confidence  of  the  people  in 
the  North  as  well  as  in  the  South;  and,  as  a  conse- 
quence, from  twenty-three  to  twenty-five  states  are 
annually  represented  among  the  students. 

Berea  College. — The  founder  of  Berea  College,  Rev. 
J.  G.  Fee,  was  convinced  of  the  evil  of  slavery  while 
taking  a  course  at  Lane  Seminary,  Ohio.  On  account 
of  his  anti-slavery  views  his  father  disinherited  him. 
Before  he  became  an  abolitionist  his  father  had  given 
him  a  farm  in  Indiana,  which  he  sold  for  $2,400  and 
spent  the  whole  of  it  in  buying  and  liberating  a  female 
slave,  raised  and  married  on  the  plantation,  to  prevent 
her  being  sold  away.  Mr.  Fee  early  began  his  work  of 
teaching  and  preaching,  but  was  frequently  interrupted 
by  disturbances  from  slave  holders.  In  1858  the  first 
charter  for  Berea  was  drawn  up.  It  opposed  sectarian- 
ism, slave  holding,  and  every  other  wrong  institution 
or  practice.  On  account  of  the  persecution  of  all  men 
holding  anti-slavery  views,  Mr.  Fee  and  his  associates 
were  compelled  to  flee  from  the  state.  Some  of  them 
endured  much  from  the  hands  of  the  mob.  John  G. 
Hanson,  one  of  the  trustees  of  the  college,  and  for  a 
short  time  a  teacher,  was  almost  miraculously  protected 
from  a  mob.  Several  efforts  were  made  to  return  to 
Kentucky,  but  nothing  could  be  done  until  the  close 
of  the  war.  In  1865  the  school  was  opened,  and  a 
charter  for  the  college  was  obtained.  Three  colored 
youths  asked  admission,  and  but  one  decision  was  pos- 
sible to  men  like  Mr.  Fee  and  his  associates.  The 


EDUCATIONAL    IMPROVEMENT.  399 

morning  that  these  three  harmless  youths  walked  in, 
half  the  school  walked  out.  But  these  brave  teach- 
ers kept  on  with  their  work.  The  vacancies  made  by 
the  white  deserters  were  soon  filled  with  colored  stu- 
dents, and  eventually  all  who  left  returned  and  became 
fast  friends  of  Berea.  At  no  time  have  the  colored  pupils 
exceeded  two-thirds  of  the  school.  The  evils  which 
were  predicted  have  never  appeared.  There  is  no  school 
in  the  state  more  easily  governed  than  this.  The  ques- 
tion whether  the  colored  pupils  are  not  necessarily  a 
drag  upon  the  school  would  never  be  asked  by  one  who 
had  any  fair  criterion  by  which  to  judge.  A  certain 
amalgamation  which  was  to  follow  is  all  in  the  future. 
The  school  regulations  make  no  distinctions  whatever 
on  account  of  color.  They  recite  in  the  same  classes, 
eat  at  the  same  table,  room  in  the  same  buildings, 
attend  the  same  meetings,  and  meet  in  all  general  social 
gatherings.  In  1869  E.  H.  Fairchild  was  called  to 
the  presidency  of  Berea  College.  Besides  the  build- 
ings, which  are  estimated  at  $82,000,  the  college  owns 
three  acres  of  land,  not  including  the  ground  about  the 
buildings,  worth  about  $15,000.  It  has  an  endowment 
of  about  $100,000  besides  the  land.  In  1892  Professor 
W.  G.  Frost,  of  Oberlin,  was  called  to  the  presidency. 
The  following  paper,  signed  by  such  men  as  George 
Cable,  Herrick  Johnson,  Frederick  Douglas,  Josiah 
Strong,  Cassius  Clay,  M.  D.  Mayo  and  others,  will 
suggest  Berea' s  work  and  influence. 

"The  peculiar  work  and  opportunity  of  Berea  Col- 
lege place  it  quite  apart  from  all  other  institutions,  and 
give  it  a  special  claim  upon  the  attention  of  every 
Christian  and  patriot.  Situated  near  the  center  of  pop- 
ulation, and  furnishing  an  education  of  the  best  type- 
industrial,  normal,  collegiate — to  multitudes  who  would 


DINING  HALL  AND  DORMITORY. 


HOSPITAL. 


PRESIDENT  S   RESIDENCE. 


JJ 


THE  NEW  DORMITORY 


THE  NEW  BUILDINGS 

SPELMAN  SEMINARY,  ATLANTA,  GA. 

400 


EDUCATIONAL    IMPROVEMENT.  401 

otherwise  fail  of  such  advantages,  it  exerts  a  potent  in- 
fluence in  favor  of  progressive  and  Christian  ideas.  But 
beyond  this,  having  been  founded  by  anti-slavery  Ken- 
tuckians  before  the  war,  and  having  shown  a  courage 
that  compels  respect,  Berea  is  in  a  position  to  do  an  un- 
paralleled sendee  in  opposing  the  spirit  of  caste  and  ef- 
facing sectional  lines.  Berea  is  distinctively  Christian, 
but  controlled  by  no  sect,  and  there  is  no  denominational 
school  which  has  before  it  this  providential  opening. 
Until  larger  endowments  can  be  secured,  about  $12,000 
must  be  procured  each  year  from  friends  of  the  cause. 
We  not  only  seek  the  large  benefactions  of  the  rich,  but 
earnestly  invite  every  one  who  approves  of  this  work 
to  contribute,  according  to  his  ability,  any  sum  from 
$5  to  5,000." 

SPELMAN    SEMINARY. 

Work  of  a  Generation. — The  contrast  between  a 
slave  pen  of  a  generation  ago,  with  its  chain-gang,  its 
auction  block,  its  profanity,  vulgarity  and  other  acces- 
sories, and  a  modern  school  for  Negro  girls,  like  Spel- 
man  Seminary,  with  its  beautiful  buildings,  its  attrac- 
tive rooms,  its  chapel  and  Bible,  its  corps  of  Christian 
workers,  the  smiling  faces  of  hundreds  of  pupils  bud- 
ding into  strong  and  useful  womanhood,  is  wonderfully 
suggestive  of  the  new  era  that  has  dawned  for  the 
Negroes  of  the  South.  Surely,  we  have  reason  to 
thank  God  and  take  courage. 

Beginning. — The  evolution  of  Spelman  Seminary  is 
one  of  the  marvels  of  the  age.  Beginning  in  a  damp, 
dark,  desolate  basement  of  a  colored^  Baptist  church, 
without  any  of  the  accessories  needed  for  successful 
work,  with  two  teachers  and  less  than  a  dozen  pupils,  it 
has,  within  the  last  fourteen  years,  grown  to  be  the 
largest,  best  equipped  school  for  colored  girls  in  the 

26  Progress. 


EDUCATIONAL   IMPROVEMENT. 

world.  It  has  a  most  choice  location,  with  a  magnifi- 
cent outlook  over  the  surrounding  country ;  has  build- 
ings specially  suited  for  its  need ;  has  a  large  and  able 
faculty  of  devoted  teachers ;  an  attendance  of  pupils 
numbered  by  the  hundreds ;  a  constituency  of  friends 
and  patrons  rapidly  extending  in  numbers  and  interest ; 
and  has  made  for  itself  a  large  place  in  the  educational 
forces  of  the  South,  and  established  a  reputation  of  the 
very  highest  order. 

Opening. — Spelman  Seminary  was  opened  on  the 
nth  of  April,  1881,  in  the  basement  of  Friendship 
Baptist  church.  Two  ladies,  Miss  S.  B.  Packard  and 
H.  E.  Giles,  journeyed  south  that  they  might  have  a 
better  knowledge  of  the  condition  of  the  freedmen. 
This  visit  opened  their  eyes  to  the  appalling  need  of 
help  for  the  colored  women  and  girls.  They  came 
north  and,  after  many  discouraging  efforts,  they  suc- 
ceeded in  raising  funds  to  start  the  school.  Arriving 
at  Atlanta,  they  at  once  called  on  Pastor  Quarles,  the 
leading  colored  Baptist  minister  of  the  state.  When 
he  learned  their  mission,  he  said:  "While  I  was  pray- 
ing, the  Lord  answered. ' '  For  fifteen  years  I  have  been 
pleading  with  God  to  send  teachers  to  the  Baptist  women 
of  Georgia,  and  now  you  have  come. ' ' 

Rev.  Frank  Quarles.— The  enthusiasm  of  this  man 
to  establish  the  work  among  the  colored  women  was 
great  and  he  was  anxious  lest  the  teachers  should  become 
discouraged.  He  went  North  to  enlist  the  sympathies 
of  the  people  and  to  get  further  support  for  the  school. 
His  last  words  to  the  school  were :  *  *  I  am  going  North 
for  you.  I  may  never  return.  Remember,  if  I  die,  I 
die  for  you  and  in  a  good  cause. ' '  To  his  people  he 
said:  "Take  care  of  those  ladies  who  have  come  to  us 
as  angels  of  mercy.  Don't  let  them  suffer."  The 


404  PROGRESS   OF    A    RACE. 

northern  climate  was  too  severe  for  his  Southern  consti- 
tution, and  he  died  in  New  York  at  the  home  of  his  son. 

The  Second  Year. — During  the  second  year  175  were 
enrolled,  one-third  of  them  were  of  ages  ranging  from 
twenty-five  to  fifty  years,  and  had  known  and  felt  the 
evils  of  slavery.  Touching  were  the  incidents  showing 
the  eagerness  and  perseverance  of  these  women. 
Often  were  they  laughed  at  and  even  persecuted,  be- 
cause they  showed  a  determination  to  get  a  little  light. 
Some  walked  seven  and  eight  miles  to  and  from 
school,  hardly  missing  a  day,  even  in  the  severest 
\\-eather. 

The  Coal  Bin. — In  January,  1882,  the  school  was  so 
large  two  of  the  recitations  were  already  heard  in  the 
main  room;  a  third  teacher,  Miss  Champney,  took  as 
her  recitation  room  the  coal  bin,  in  which  there  was  one 
small  window. 

Rockefeller  Hall. — Miss  Packard  and  Miss  Giles  went 
North  in  1 88  2  to  secure  funds  for  the  school.  When  some 
thousands  had  been  raised,  Mr.  John  D.  Rockefeller 
came  to  their  relief  and  gave  a  large  sum,  and  the  school 
was  named  Spelman  Seminary  in  honor  of  Mr.  Spelman, 
the  father  of  Mrs.  Rockefeller.  Rockefeller  Hall  was 
dedicated  in  1886.  It  contains  recitation  rooms,  dormi- 
tories, and  a  beautiful  chapel,  on  whose  walls  is  inscribed 
the  motto:  ''Our  whole  school  for  Christ." 

Giles  Hall. — In  1892  Mr.  Rockefeller  again  presented 
the  institution  with  a  building  170  feet  long  and  four 
stories  high,  and  requested  that  it  should  be  called  Giles 
Hall.  On  the  first  floor  are  a  large  school  room  and 
ten  class  rooms  for  the  use  of  the  primary  department ; 
on  the  second  floor  are  similar  rooms  for  the  interme- 
diate department ;  the  third  floor  contains  a  laboratory 
and  science  lecture  room,  commodious  recitation  rooms 


EDUCATIONAL    IMPROVEMENT.  405 

for  the  normal  and  training  and  missionary  training 
-classes,  and  dormitories  for  the  students  of  these  depart- 
ments. The  building  was  dedicated  in  December,  1893. 

Buildings. — Spelman  Seminary  now  has  six  brick 
buildings,  four  frame  dormitories,  and  a  frame  hospital 
for  the  sick,  and  about  fourteen  acres  of  land.  The 
property  is  now  estimated  at  about  $150,000. 

Enrollment. — The  aggregate  enrollment  for  fifteen 
years  has  been  about  6,500.  Fifty-one  certificates 
have  been  given  in  the  nurse  training  department. 
Ninety-two  have  gone  out  from  the  academic  depart- 
ment, a  majority  of  whom  are  teachers.  Two  are  on  the 
Congo  as  missionaries ;  one,  a  Congo  girl,  was  sent  to 
be  educated,  and  returned  in  1895  as  an  appointed 
missionary  from  the  Woman's  Baptist  Missionary 
Society  of  Boston. 

Success. — The  success  which  has  attended  this  work 
has  proved  how  valuable  and  important  normal  train- 
ing is.  There  are  hundreds  whose  circumstances  would 
not  allow  them  to  remain  longer  in  school  who  have 
gone  out  to  do  efficient  services  and  become  centers  of 
influences  for  good  in  the  communities  where  they 
live. 

Teachers. — The  number  of  teachers  has  greatly  in- 
creased, until  at  present  there  are  38.  The  Women's 
American  Baptist  Missionary  Society  provided  for  a 
number  of  these;  the  Slater  Fund  for  others,  while 
some  of  them  labor  unselfishly  and  faithfully  with  onfy 
a  meager  salary. 

Influence. — -Spelman  Seminar}7  is  a  power  for  good. 
It  is  to  the  colored  women  of  the  South  all  that  Vassar 
is  to  the  white  women  of  the  North.  It  is  an  enterprise 
of  quick  gr  ,wth  and  phenomenal  proportion. 

Prof.  -Wm,  E,  Holmes.— The  Negro  Baptists  of  the 


406 


PROGRESS   OF    A    RACE. 


South  show  their  appreciation  of  the  school  by  the 
hundreds  who  have  already  enlisted  as  members.  The 
intelligent  interest  and  co-operation  of  Prof.  Holmes, 
formerly  of  the  Baptist  Seminary,  from  the  very  com- 
mencement have  been  of  inestimable  value,  a  means  of 
elevating  the  race.  The  colored  people  more  and 
more  appreciate  the  worth  and  work  of  this  noble  sem- 
inary. They  feel  they  have  now  a  training  home  for 
their  daughters  where  correct  discipline  is  administered 
by  consecrated  Christian  women,  who  give  their  lives, 
while  many  give  their  money,  to  prepare  toilers  for 
service  as  a  means  in  the  elevation"  of  the  race.  Spel- 
man  is  invaluable  and  indispensable. 

Nora  A.   Gordon, — Nora   A.    Gordon   was  born  in 

Columbia,  Georgia, 
in  1866.  Her  parents 
were  formerly  slaves, 
belonging  to  the  well- 
known  General  Gor- 
don, from  whom  they 
received  their  name. 
She  attended  the  pub- 
1  i  c  schools  of  La 
Grange,  Georgia, 
where  she  resided. 
In  the  fall  of  1882  she 
entered  Spelman 
Seminar}-.  She  was 
ignorant  and  super- 
stitious, and  had  many 
mistaken  ideas  about 
religion.  She  soon 
became  a  Christian, 
and  joined  the  Baptist  Church  of  Atlanta.  She  then 


NORA  A.  GORDON, 

Missionary  in  Africa. 


EDUCATIONAL    IMPROVEMENT.  407 

began  organizing  temperance  societies,  Sunday  schools, 
and  caused  family  altars  to  be  erected  in  the  homes  of 
her  pupils.  She  was  a  diligent  student,  completing  the 
course  in  Spelman  in  1888,  and  at  once  accepted  the 
position  as  teacher  in  one  of  the  Atlanta  public  schools, 
but  in  1889  an  urgent  call  came  for  her  to  go  to  Africa. 
She  said:  "Christ's  preciousness  to  me  makes  me  feel 
that  I  wish  my  feet  had  wings,  that  I  might  hasten  to 
take  the  Bread  of  Life  to  the  poor  heathen.  I  have 
counted  the  cost  of  missionary  service,  and  my  love  for 
Christ  makes  me  willing  to  bear  the  many  peculiar 
trials  through  which  I  am  confident  I  must  pass. '  *  At 
the  farewell  services  in  Atlanta  she  said:  "This  has 
been  a  peculiar  day  to  me,  the  happiest  of  my  life,  as  I 
am  so  soon  to  realize  a  long  cherished  hope.  I  feel 
that  perfect  peace  which  passeth  understanding. 

"Some  friends  have  asked  me  why  I  go, 

What  may  my  reason  be; 
You  have  my  answer  in  these  words, 

'God's  love  constraineth  me.'  " 

Miss  Gordon  labored  in  Africa  until  1893,  when 
broken-down  health  compelled  her  to  return  to  Amer- 
ica, but  in  1895,  her  health  being  restored,  she  was 
married  to  Rev.  S.  C.  Gordon,  of  Stanley  Pool,  and 
again  returned  to  the  Congo. 

Bishop  Hapgood  says:  "No  money  apportioned  by 
me  from  1882  till  1891  was  ever  better  used  than  that 
I  gave  to  Spelman.  Whatever  concerns  bodily,  mental 
or  spiritual  health  is  considered  and  provided  for  at 
Spelman.  The  houses  and  premises  are  clean ;  the 
discipline  and  instruction  are  of  the  very  best;  the 
atmosphere  is  religious. ' ' 

Clara  Howard. — Clara  Howard  was  born  in  Green- 
ville, Georgia.  At  nine  years  of  age  she  entered  a  little 


4oa 


EDUCATIONAL   IMPROVEMENT.  409 

private  school  and  afterwards  Atlanta  University, where 
she  remained  nearly  three  years.  Afterwards  she  en- 
tered Spelman  Seminary,  and  graduated  in  1887, and  was 
at  once  appointed  teacher  in  the  Atlanta  public  schools. 
vShe  was  appointed  missionary  to  the  Congo,  in  1890. 
where  she  remained  until  1894,  when  she  was  compelled 
by  ill  health  to  leave  her  work,  and  returned  to  Spel- 
man. She  hopes  again  to  take  up  her  chosen  work 
after  regaining  health. 

Atlanta  Baptist  Seminary. — The  work  of  this  semi- 
nary was  begun  in  1871,  and  carried  on  for  some  years 
at  Augusta,  Georgia,  but  in  1879  it  was  removed  to  the 
capital  of  the  state  and  buildings  erected  at  a  cost  of 
$12,500.  The  special  aim  of  the  school  is  the  education 
of  preachers  and  such  teachers  as  can  be  classed  with 
them  profitably.  A  strong  sentiment  in  favor  of  edu- 
cation of  young  women  was  soon  developed  after  the 
removal  of  the  school  to  Atlanta.  The  Spelman  Girls' 
School  and  Atlanta  Baptist  Seminary  are  located  on 
almost  the  same  grounds.  The  site  contains  about 
eight  acres.  The  colored  people  of  the  state  have  taken 
a  deep  interest  in  the  work,  and  have  succeeded  in  rais- 
ing money  for  the  purpose.  The  future  work  of  the 
school  is  great,  the  developing  of  thought  among  the 
100,000  colored  Baptists  in  the  Empire  State  of  the 
South.  In  1888  a  new  site  of  eighteen  acres  was  pur- 
chased in  West  Atlanta.  The  new  buildings  cost  $30,- 
ooo.  The  value  of  the  property  at  present  is  $40,000. 

Clark  University,  like  most  schools  of  its  kind,  had' an 
humble  beginning.  Starting  as  an  ordinary  grade 
school,  in  the  city  of  Atlanta,  in  the  year  1869,  it  has 
come,  through  various  changes  of  fortune,  to  be  what 
it  is  today — the  largest  and  best  located  of  the  schools 
of  the  Freedmen's  Aid  Society  of  the  Methodist  Epis- 


410 


EDUCATIONAL    IMPROVEMENT.  411 

copal  Church.  Confined  for  many  years  to  narrow 
quarters  in  the  city,  it  was  moved  to  its  present  spacious 
site  in  the  year  1880,  when  its  first  new  building1,  Chris- 
man  Hall,  was  erected. 

Its  charter  was  secured  in  1877,  and  the  first  meeting 
of  the  trustees  took  place  on  the  fifteenth  day  of  Feb- 
ruary of  that  year. 

The  land,  450  acres,  was  secured  through  the  untir- 
ing efforts  and  far  sightedness  of  Bishop  Gilbert  Haven, 
and  its  first  building  owes  its  existence  chiefly  to  the 
generosity  and  benevolence  of  Mrs.  Eliza  Chrisman,  of 
Topeka,  Kansas. 

From  1880  to  1884,  Bishop  Henry  W.  Warren  made 
his  home  at  the  institution,  and  rendered  to  it  the  most 
substantial  aid  it  has  had  since  its  foundation.  It  was 
in  this  period  that  the  industrial  department,  under  the 
patronage  of  Bishop  Warren,  came  into  being — depart- 
ments that  had  steady  and  rapid  growth,  and  continued 
in  operation  until  two  years  ago,  when,  because  of  the 
great  financial  stringency,  they  were  closed — yet  with 
the  hope  of  opening  again.  In  these  departments  were 
taught  carpentry,  blacksmithing,  carriage  making, 
carriage  painting,  harness  making,  and  printing.  Sim- 
ultaneously with  the  establishment  of  the  shops,  was 
also  established  the  '  *  Model  Home, ' '  for  the  instruction 
of  girls  in  all  domestic  arts  and  duties.  This  home 
accommodates  twenty  pupils.  No  department  of  the 
institution  has  been  richer  in  good  results. 

In  the  year  1883,  the  Gammon  School  of  Theology 
was  founded  in  connection  with  Clark  University,  by 
Rev.  Elijah  H.  Gammon,  of  Batavia,  Illinois.  This 
school  remained  a  department  of  the  university  until 
the  year  1888,  when  it  became  a  separate  institution 
tinder  the  corporate  name  of  Gammon  Theological 
Seminary. 


412 


PROGRESS   OF    A    RACE. 


The  property  of  the  university,  situated  just  outside 
the  city  limits,  is  at  present  valued  at  $400,000.  Its 
value  will  be  enhanced,  probably,  twice,  that  sum,  as 
the  city  pushes  out  around  and  about  it.  With  proper 
management,  the  school  has  unlimited  possibilities  for 
good. 


Knowles  Uuilding.  Boys'  Hall.  Stone  Hall.  Girls'  Hall.  Model  Hor 

ATLANTA      UNIVERSITY. 

Atlanta  University,  originally  under  the  auspices  of 
the  American  Missionary  Association,  but  now  inde- 
pendent and  unsectarian,  was  organized  in  the  year 
1 869.  Its  organization  was  largely  due  to  the  energy  and 
foresight  of  Rev.  Edmund  Asa  Ware,  who  became  its 
first  .president,  and  continued  in  that  position  twenty 
years,  or  up  to  the  time  of  his  death.  The  school  had  phe- 
nomenal growth  during  those  twenty  years,  and  became, 
perhaps,  -the  best  known  institution  of  its  kind  in  the  j 
South.  It  offers  its  advantages  to  both  sexes,  without 
regard  to  race,  color  or  nationality. 

The  property  of  the- school  is  valued  at  about" $200,- 
ooo,  and  is  situated  on  a  commanding  elevation  in  the 
city,  easily  accessible  by  the- streetcars,  which,  indeed, 
run  through  its  .grounds: 

Like  most  schools  of  its  kind -in  the  South,  it  has  some 


EDUCATIONAL    IMPROVEMENT.  413 

industrial  features,  but  unlike  the  other  schools, 
it  has.  now  no  grade  work,  that  work  having  been 
discontinued  three  "  years  ago.  The  efforts  of  the 
institution  are  now  directed  solely  toward  building  up 
a  college  proper.  The  standard  is  being  gradually 
raised,  and  it  is  the  laudable  ambition  of  the 
authorities  to  have  here,  in  the  Central  South,  a 
university  worthy  of  the  name,  that  shall  supply 
the  educational  needs  of  the  people. 

Work  of  the  Graduates  of  Atlanta  University. — As 
an  encouragement  to  prospective  students  to  attend 
Atlanta  University,  and  to  friends  of  Southern  educa- 
tion to  support  its  work,  the  following  somewhat 
detailed  statement  is  presented  showing  the  marked 
success  the  graduates  have  had  in  securing  not  only 
remunerative  positions  for  their  own  self-support,  but 
also  opportunities  for  the  widest  usefulness  in  the 
work  of  uplifting  their  race.  The  statements  are 
taken  from  a  recently  printed  leaflet  concerning  the 
work  of  its  graduates. 

Of  the  104  graduates,  twelve  have  died.  Of 
the  ninety-two  now  living,  eleven  are  ministers, 
four  are  physicians,  two  are  lawyers,  one  is  a  dentist, 
forty-nine  are  teachers,  one  is  a  medical  student, 
ten  are  in  the  service  of  the  United  States,  five 
are  in  other  kinds  of  business,  two  are  married 
women  not  otherwise  designated,  and  the  occupation 
of  one  is  unknown. 

Ministers. — Three  of  the  ministers  are  pastors  of 
Congregational  churches  in  the  cities  of  Chattanooga, 
Tennessee;  Selma,  Alabama,  and  Savannah,  Georgia; 
one  is  pastor  of  a  Baptist  church  in  Charleston,  South 
Carolina;  three  of  the  Methodist  churches  in  Griffin, 
Georgia;  San  Francisco,  California,  and  Portsmouth, 


414  PROGRESS   OF    A    RACE. 

Virginia;  one  is  chaplain  of  the  Tuskegee  Normal  and 
Industrial  Institute  and  dean  of  its  Bible  School; 
another  is  secretary  of  the  International  Sunday 
School  Convention;  another  is  the  general  secretary 
of  the  Baptist  Negro  churches  in  Georgia ;  another  is 
missionary  of  the  American  Baptist  Publication 
Society.  One  of  the  above  has  been  presiding 
elder  of  the  African  Methodist  Episcopal  churches 
in  Sierra  Leone,  Africa.  All  the  churches  named 
are  centers  of  great  power  and  wide  influence. 
Some  of  these  ministers  have  made  addresses 
in  national  and  international  assemblages,  one  is 
a  fellow  of  the  Royal  Geographical  Society,  and 
one  has  had  the  unique  honor  of  being  a  member 
of  the  board  of  education  in  a  large  Southern  city 
for  eleven  successive  years. 

Teachers. — Many  of  the  teachers  hold  high  positions. 
Ten  are  principals  of  public  schools  and  three  of  high 
schools.  Others  are  designated  as  follows:  professor 
of  Latin  and  Greek  in  Clark  University,  Atlanta, 
Georgia;  teacher  of  music  in  Savannah,  Georgia;  pres- 
ident of  the  State  Industrial  College  of  Georgia; 
principal  of  Howard  Normal  School,  Cuthbert,  Georgia; 
professor  of  Greek  in  Morris  Brown  College,  Atlanta, 
Georgia;  vice-principal  of  State  Normal  and  Indus- 
trial College,  Prairie  View,  Texas;  vice-president  of 
Territorial  Normal,  Langston,  Oklahoma;  principal 
of  Knox  Institute,  Athens,  Georgia;  superintendent 
of  the  Industrial  Department  in  Biddle  University, 
Charlotte,  North  Carolina;  professor  of  Modern  Lan- 
guages, History  and  Pedagogy,  and  vice-president  in 
Lincoln  Institute,  Jefferson  City,  Missouri;  president 
of  the  Florida  Baptist  College,  Jacksonville,  Florida; 
southern  secretary  of  Atlanta  University ;  professor  of 


EDUCATIONAL    IMPROVEMENT.  415 

Pedagogy  in  Atlanta  University;  professor  of  Natural 
Science  in  the  State  Normal  School,  Frankfort,  Ken- 
tucky; principal  of  the  Georgia  Normal  and  Industrial 
Institute,  Greensboro,  Georgia;  principal  of  Walker 
Institute,  Augusta,  Georgia;  professor  of  Latin  and 
Greek  in  Bennett  College,  Greensboro,  North  Caro- 
lina; superintendent  of  Mechanical  Department  of 
Knox  Institute,  Athens,  Georgia;  teacher  of  Science 
in  the  J.  K.  Brick  Normal  and  Agricultural  School, 
Enfield,  North  Carolina ;  assistant  superintendent  of 
the  Mechanical  Department  in  Tougaloo  University, 
Tougaloo,  Mississippi. 

Other  Professions. — The  four  physicians  are  located 
in  Denver,  Colorado;  St.  Joseph,  Missouri;  Savannah, 
Georgia,  and  Atlanta,  Georgia.  All  of  them  were 
among  the  very  first  in  their  classes  in  the  medical 
schools  that  they  attended. 

The  two  lawyers  are  practicing  severally  in  Boston, 
Massachusetts,  and  Augusta,  Georgia,  and  are  suc- 
cessful in  their  profession.  One  is  a  Master  in  Chan- 
cery by  appointment  of  the  governor  of  his  state. 
The  one  dentist  lives  in  Atlanta  and  has  an  extensive 
practice. 

One  of  these  graduates  was  a  lieutenant  in  the  army 
during  the  Spanish  War  and  is  now  a  captain  of  U.  S. 
Volunteers,  serving  at  Manila.  Another  was  pay- 
master with  the  rank  of  major. 

Civil  and  Political  Service, — Several  of  the  grad- 
uates who  are  clerks  in  the  United  States  service  in 
Washington  have  taken  a  full  course  in  law  or  medi- 
cine. And  when  it  is  considered  that  this  lias  required 
several  hours  of  hard  work  in  the  evening  after  a  full 
day  at  the  office,  for  months  and  years,  one  can  under- 


416  PROGRESS    OF    A    RACE. 

stand  that  they  have  grit  and  perseverance.  Then 
three  at  least  have  been  mail  agents  on  railroads 
under  four  successive  administrations  and  have  suc- 
cessfully passed  the  severe  examination  required  and 
conquered  the  violent  opposition  that  has  risen  against 
them  from  various  sources. 

The  peculiar  conditions  existing  in  the  South  have 
prevented  these  graduates  from  becoming  prominent  in 
political  affairs.  Yet  one  of  them  has  been  a  member 
of  three  successive  National  Republican  conventions 
and  another  has  represented  his  county  in  the  Georgia 
legislature,  while  a  third  has  served  two  terms  in  the 
Texas  legislature,  being  elected  by  the  aid  of  the  votes 
of  Southern  white  men  in  a  predominantly  white  com- 
munity. 

Normal  Trained  Teachers. — Most  of  these  teachers 
are  located  in  Georgia,  but  some  are  in  North  Carolina, 
Missouri,  Tennessee,  Arkansas,  Texas,  Alabama,  Mis- 
sissippi, Louisiana  and  Florida.  Of  the  forty-four 
teachers  in  the  colored  public  schools  of  Atlanta,  thirty 
received  their  education  in  Atlanta  University.  One 
of  these  has  been  in  continuous  service,  until  two  years 
ago, ever  since  colored  teachers  began  to  be  employed, in 
1874,  and  others  nearly  as  long.  Two  have  been  in  the 
same  school  in  Savannah  since  1876.  While  most  are 
teaching  in  public  schools,  several  are  in  private  insti- 
tutions. One  is  the  founder  and  principal  of  the 
Haines  Normal  and  Industrial  Institute  in  Augusta, 
Georgia,  a  large  and  important  school,  in  which  two 
others  are  assistants;  another  is  the  founder  and  princi- 
pal of  the  Shepard  School  in  Macon ;  three  are  teachers 
in  the  Morris  Brown  College  in  Atlanta,  an  institu- 
tion of  high  grade  under  the  auspices  of  the  African 


EDUCATIONAL   IMPROVEMENT.  417 

Methodist  Episcopal  church ;  another  is  the  founder  and 
manager  of  an  orphans'  home  and  school  in  Covington; 
another  is  principal  of  an  American  Missionary  Associa- 
tion school  in  Marshallville ;  two  are  teachers  in  the 
Tuskegee  Normal  and  Industrial  Institute,  besides 
two  of  our  college  graduates,  while  two  are  wives  of 
prominent  teachers  there  and  participate  in  the  work ; 
and  another  is  teacher  of  elocution  in  Atlanta  Uni- 
versity. 

Almost  every  one  of  these  graduates  is  a  Christian 
and  is  doing  Christian  work  in  church,  Sunday-school 
and  home,  and  is  exerting  a  strong  influence  for  good 
in  the  community  in  which  he  lives.  They  are  leaders 
in  temperance  organizations,  sociological  clubs  and 
teachers'  associations,  and  are  found  in  the  front  ranks 
of  every  social  reform  movement.  In  a  large  measure 
they  are  moulders  of  public  sentiment  and  are  helping 
in  a  quiet  way  to  solve  some  of  the  perplexing  prob- 
lems of  these  troublous  times.  Although  they  are 
reformers  in  the  best  sense  of  the  word,  they  are  an 
eminently  conservative  social  element. 

The  Atlanta  Conference.— Atlanta  University  rec- 
ognizes that  it  is  its  duty  as  a  seat  of  learning  to 
throw  as  much  light  as  possible  upon  the  intricate 
social  problems  affecting  the  American  Negro,  both 
for  the  enlightenment  of  its  own  graduates  and  for  the 
information  of  the  general  public.  It  has,  therefore, 
during  the  last  five  years  sought  to  unite  its  graduates, 
the  graduates  of  similar  institutions,  and  educated 
Negroes  in  general  throughout  the  country  in  an  effort 
to  study  carefully  and  thoroughly  certain  definite 
aspects  of  Negro  problems. 

Six  conferences  have  been  held,  and  the  proceedings 

27  Progress. 


418  PROGRESS    OF    A    RACE. 

of  each  have  been  published  by  the  Atlanta  University 
Press,  upon:  "Mortality  among  Negroes  in  Cities," 
"Social  and  Physical  Condition  of  Negroes  in  Cities," 
"Some  Efforts  of  American  Negroes  for  Their  Own 
Social  Betterment,"  "The  Negro  in  Business,"  "The 
College-bred  Negro,"  and  the  sixth  on  "Public 
Education." 

Tuskegee  Normal  and  Industrial  Institute. — In  1881 
the  Alabama  legislature  passed  a  bill  appropriating 
$2,000  yearly  for  the  support  of  a  school  at  Tuskegee  for 
the  education  of  Negro  youth.  General  Armstrong 
was  asked  to  suggest  a  suitable  man  to  establish  and 
direct  the  work,  and  he  recommended  Booker  T.  Wash- 
ington. The  district  in  which  the  school  is  located  is 
one  in  which  the  black  people  outnumber  the  whites 
three  to  one.  Here,  on  the  fourth  of  June,  1881,  he 
opened  the  Tuskegee  Normal  and  Industrial  Institute 
in  a  small  church  and  shanty.  Since  that  time  the  insti- 
tution has  grown  until  it  has  now  80  instructors,  about 
40  buildings,  and  over  800  students,  all  over  fourteen 
years  of  age,  the  average  age  being  eighteen  and  one- 
half  years.  Students  come  from  twenty-four  states. 
From  the  first  industrial  training  has  been  a  prominent 
feature  of  this  school.  This  is  kept  uppermost,  to  train 
men  and  women  in  head,  heart  and  hand ;  to  meet  con- 
ditions that  exist  right  about  them  rather  than  conditions 
that  existed  centuries  ago,  or  that  exist  a  thousand 
miles  away.  The  institution  is  Christian,  but  not 
denominational.  Professor  Washington  says  it  is  not 
the  type  of  Christianity  that  prevails  in  some  places 
among  the  colored  race,  where,  as  an  example,  is  told 
the  story  of  the  colored  man  who  went  to  his  weekly 
class  meeting  and  said  to  his  class  leader,  "I's  had  a 
ha'd  time  since  our  las'  meetin' ;  I's  been  sometimes 


EDUCATIONAL   IMPROVEMENT.  419 

up  and  sometimes  down.  'Spects  I's  broken  eb'ry  one 
ob  de  ten  comman'ments  since  our  las'  meetin',  but  I 
tanks  God  I's  not  los'  my  'ligionyet." 

In  connection  with  literature  and  Christian  training 
the  students  are  trained  in  industrial  pursuits.  Over 
twenty-four  hundred  acres  of  land  are  owned  by  the 
institute,  650  of  which  are  cultivated.  The  students 
receive  instruction  in  various  branches  of  agriculture, 
horticulture,  dairy  products,  brick  masonry,  wheel- 
wrighting,  blacksmithing,  tinning,  carpentering,  paint- 
ing, shoemaking,  tailoring,  dressmaking,  and  various 
branches  of  industrial  training,  besides  preparing  men 
and  women  as  teachers,  preachers,  physicians,  lawyers, 
clerks,  merchants,  machinists,  etc.  This  system  enables 
them  to  make  practical  application  of  the  theories  which 
they  learn  in  the  class  room.  The  principles  of  physics 
are  immediately  applied  in  the  machine  shop,  those  of 
chemistry  in  farming  and  cooking,  those  of  mathematics 
in  carpentering,  etc.  There  are  no  idlers  in  Tuskegee. 
They  erect  their  own  buildings,  even  manufacturing 
every  brick ;  they  also  do  the  carpenter  and  other  work. 
Thus  the  institute  secures  buildings  for  permanent  use 
with  a  minimum  of  expense,  and  the  students  have  the 
industrial  training.  This  also  helps  the  young  men  and 
women  to  get  rid  of  any  old  idea  they  may  have  had 
that  labor  is  disgraceful ;  that  it  is  beneath  one  to  use 
his  hands  if  he  has  any  education.  The  Tuskegee 
property  is  now  valued  at  $300,000,  on  which  there  is 
no  mortgage.  One  great  difficulty  in  endeavoring  to 
better  the  condition  of  the  Southern  Negro  is  the  "mort- 
gage system,"  which  makes  them  virtually  the  property 
of  well-to-do  planters,  taking  away  all  their  independ- 
ence, ambition  and  self-respect.  They  live  in  little 
cabins,  and  try  to  pay  sometimes  40  per  cent,  interest 


420  PROGRESS  OF  A  RACE. 

on  their  property  and  on  their  crops,  which  are  often 
mortgaged  before  they  are  raised.  The  result  in  pov- 
erty and  lack  of  hope  for  better  things  can  be  imagined. 
Tuskegee  Institute  is  seeking  to  find  arid  apply  a  rem- 
edy for  this  state  of  things.  This  work  they  do  not 
consider  hopeless  or  even  discouraging.  The  Negroes 
acknowledge  their  ignorance  and  low  condition,  but 
they  think  that  there  is  no  help  for  it.  What  they  need 
is  intelligent  and  unselfish  leadership  in  their  religious, 
industrial  and  intellectual  life,  and  this  is  what  the 
Tuskegee  institution  is  endeavoring  to  give  them.  The 
trouble  is  that  these  people  do  not  know  how  to  utilize 
the  results  of  their  labor.  What  they  earn  gets  away 
from  them  in  paying  mortgages,  and  in  buying  lace, 
snuff,  and  cheap  jewelry.  They  have  not  yet  learned 
the  distinctions  between  cheap  and  showy  imitations  of 
wealth  and  education,  and  the  culture  and  refinement 
which  only  comes  by  slow  and  labored  progress.  A 
one-roomed  cabin  will  sometimes  have  clocks  bought 
on  the  installment  plan  for  $12,  when,  in  nine  cases  out 
of  ten,  not  one  in  the  family  can  tell  when  the  hands 
point  to  six  o'clock  and  when  to  twelve;  or  a  family 
will  mortgage  a  year's  crop  to  pay  for  a  funeral  or  a 
wedding. 

Tuskegee  has  already  succeeded  in  reforming  many 
districts.  At  the  time  of  their  emancipation  practically 
all  of  the  Negroes  lived  in  one-room  cabins ;  ten  years 
ago  nine-tenths  of  them  lived  in  the  same  way ;  whereas 
today  one-third  of  them  have  at  least  doubled  their 
accommodations,  and  many  of  them  own  their  farms 
and  homes.  The  students  who  come  to  Tuskegee  from 
wretched,  single-roomed  hovels,  go  back  to  transform 
them  into  homes  where  peace  and  purity  can  thrive. 
Already  the  graduates  of  the  institution  are  in  great 


EDUCATIONAL   IMPROVEMENT.  421 

demand  all  over  the  South,  and  other  schools  are  apply- 
ing the  Tuskegee  principles  and  methods  of  education. 

The  chief  requisites  for  admission  to  the  institute  are 
a  good  moral  character,  attested  by  recommendations 
from  reliable  persons,  a  good  physique  and  a  fair  ability 
to  read,  write  and  cipher.  No  student  who  cannot  read 
and  write  will  be  admitted  to  the  institute.  No  student 
is  admitted  to  any  department  on  any  terms  under  four- 
teen years  of  age ;  this  rule  is  rigidly  enforced. 

Ten  years  ago  a  young  man  born  in  slavery  found  his 
way  to  the  Tuskegee  school.  By  small  cash  payments 
and  work  on  the  farm  he  finished  the  course  with  a 
good  English  education  and  a  practical  and  theoretical 
knowledge  of  farming.  Returning  to  his  country  home, 
where  five-sixths  of  the  citizens  were  black,  he  found 
them  still  mortgaging  their  crops,  living  on  rented  land 
from  hand  to  mouth,  and  deeply  in  debt.  School  had 
never  lasted  longer  than  three  months,  and  was  taught 
in  a  wreck  of  a  cabin  by  an  inferior  teacher.  Finding 
this  condition  of  things,  the  young  man  took  the  three 
months'  public  school  as  a  starting  point.  Soon  he 
organized  the  older  people  into  a  club  that  came 
together  every  week.  In  these  meetings  the  young 
man  taught  them  the  value  of  owning  a  home,  the  evils 
of  mortgaging,  and  the  importance  of  educating  their 
children.  He  taught  them  how  to  save  money,  how  to 
sacrifice — to  live  on  bread  and  potatoes  until  they  got 
out  of  debt,  begin  buying  a  home  and  stop  mortgaging. 
Through  the  lessons  and  influence  of  these  meetings 
during  the  first  year  of  this  young  man's  work,  these 
people  built  by  their  contributions  and  labor  a  good 
frame  school  house,  which  replaced  the  wreck  of  a  log 
cabin.  The  next  year  this  work  was  continued,  and 
those  people,  by  their  own  gifts,  furnished  funds  for 


422  PROGRESS   OF    A    RACE. 

adding  two  months  to  the  original  school  term.  Month 
by  month  has  been  added  to  the  school  term,  till  it  now 
lasts  seven  months  every  year.  Already  fourteen  fam- 
ilies within  a  radius  of  ten  miles  have  bought  and  are 
buying  homes,  a  large  proportion  have  ceased  mortgag- 
ing their  crops,  and  are  raising  their  own  food  supplies. 
In  the  midst  of  all  is  the  young  man  educated  at  Tusk- 
egee  in  a  model  cottage  and  a  model  farm  that  serve  as 
a  center  of  light  for  the  whole  community. 

A  few  years  ago  a  young  woman  was  educated  and 
converted  at  Tuskegee.  After  her  graduation  she  went 
to  one  of  the  plantations  where  they  only  had  school  for 
three  months  in  the  year  in  a  broken-down  log  cabin. 
She  took  charge  of  the  school,  and  went  among  the 
mothers  and  fathers  of  the  pupils  and  found  out  what 
their  resources  were.  She]  taught  them  how  to  save 
money.  The  first  year  many  men  decided  not  to  mort- 
gage their  crops,  but  to  provide  suitable  homes  and  a 
good  schoolhouse.  They  added  to  the  school  term  until 
now  they  have  a  season  of  eight  months.  The  com- 
munity is  transformed,  and  the  very  faces  of  the  peo- 
ple show  the  revolution  that  has  been  wrought  in  their 
lives  by  that  one  Christian  leader.  Every  improve- 
ment has  come  through  this  young  woman  in  their 
midst  showing  them  how  to  direct  their  efforts,  how 
to  take  the  money  that  had  hitherto  gone  for  mortgag- 
ing, snuff  and  tobacco,  and  to  use  it  for  their  own 
uplifting. 

The  Georgia  State  Industrial  College  was  estab- 
lished in  1891,  beginning  its  first  regular  session  in 
October  of  that  year.  In  the  summer  of  1891  a  pre- 
liminary session  was  held  in  Athens,  Georgia,  while  a 
permanent  location  was  being  selected  for  its  establish- 
ment. 


EDUCATIONAL   IMPROVEMENT. 


423 


Prof.  R.  R.  Wright,  A.  M.,  who  was  a  member  of 
the  class  of  1876  of  the  Atlanta  University,  and  who 
had  been  for  eleven  years  principal  of  the  Ware  High 
School  of  Augusta,  was  chosen  as  its  first  President. 


RICHARD  R.  WRIGHT,  A.  M. 

President  of  Georgia  State  Industrial  College 
See  sketch,  page  393. 

During  the  session  at  Athens,  President  Wright  was 
assisted  by  Prof.  L.  B.  Palmer  and  Mrs.  Addrienne 
McNeal  Herndon,  both  graduates  of  the  Atlanta  Uni- 
versity, 


424  PROGRESS  or  A  RACK. 

The  Georgia  State  College  was  established  in  pursu- 
ance of  an  act  of  the  state  legislature  in  1890,  when  the 
act  of  1874  appropriating  to  the  Atlanta  University  a 
sum  of  $8,000  per  annum  was  repealed,  and  an  enact- 
ment made  providing  for  the  establishment  of  a  state 
school  for  colored  youth.  This  institution  is  a  branch 
of  the  State  University  now  at  Athens,  so  is  under  the 
general  supervision  of  the  Chancellor  of  the  University 
of  Georgia  and  its  Board  of  Trustees. 

The  Georgia  State  College  is  the  only  one  of  its  kind 
in  the  state  for  the  education  of  colored  youth.  A 
more  beautiful  as  well  as  healthful  situation  for  a  col- 
lege could  not  be  found  in  the  state. 

The  main  buildings  are  Boggs  Hall,  the  principal 
recitation  building;  Parson  Hall,  constituting  the 
dormitory  and  dining  hall ;  and  a  shop  for  training  in 
architectural  and  mechanical  drawing,  wood  and  iron 
working,  masonry  and  decorating.  In  1892  three  neat 
cottages  were  erected  as  homes  for  the  President  and 
the  professors.  A  magnificent  chapel  and  model  school 
building  has  just  been  completed,  which  stands  as  a 
monument  to  the  industrial  feature  of  the  College.  This 
building  was  erected  entirely  by  the  students,  working 
under  the  direction  of  the  principal  of  the  Manual  Train- 
ing department.  This  department  was  awarded  a 
medal  at  the  International  Exposition  held  in  Atlanta 
in  1895. 

There  is  a  Normal  Course  of  three  years  besides  a 
regular  College  department.  Industrial  Training,  which 
is  one  of  the  prominent  features,  extends  throughout 
the  entire  course.  The  last  year  of  this  department, 
however,  is  elective.  There  have  been  eleven  grad- 
uates from  the  Normal  Course.  There  is  also  a 
Teachers'  Training  department  for  the  benefit  of  those 
who  contemplate  entering  that  profession. 


EDUCATIONAL   IMPROVEMENT.  425 

Since  its  first  session  it  has  been  necessary  for  the 
College  to  almost  double  the  number  of  instructors, 
which  evidences  the  steady  growth  of  the  institution. 
Its  energetic  and  persevering  President  and  his  assist- 
ants have  labored  untiringly  to  make  of  this  institution 
a  first-class  college  for  the  industrial  as  well  as  intellect- 
ual training  of  the  colored  youth  in  the  state. 

The  enrollment  has  increased  from  forty-two  for 
the  first  year  to  more  than  two  hundred.  At  present 
there  are  no  scholarships  belonging  to  this  institution, 
though  needy  students  aid  themselves  by  work.  In 
connection  with  the  College  there  is  a  farm  containing 
fifty-four  acres  on  which  most  of  the  necessary  vege- 
tables are  cultivated  by  student  labor  under  the  super- 
vision of  an  experienced  agriculturist. 

As  the  result  of  the  generosity  of  Miss  Jennie  E. 
Bill,  of  Norwich,  Connecticut,  and  other  friends,  there 
is  for  the  students  an  excellent  library  to  which 
collections  are  being  added  from  time  to  time.  There 
are  two  literary  societies,  besides  a  Young  Men's  Chris- 
tian Association  under  whose  direction  are  conducted 
the  prayer  meetings  and  other  devotional  exercises. 
The  present  faculty  is  composed  of  some  of  the  best 
talent  afforded  by  the  race. 

Central  Tennessee  College.— Central  Tennessee  Col- 
lege was  chartered  in  1866  by  the  legislature  of 
Tennessee.  It  is  supported  by  the  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Church.  A  large  number  of  the  students  have 
engaged  in  teaching.  Many  of  these  teachers  have 
charge  of  Sunday  schools  as  well  as  day  schools,  thus 
aiding  in  the  religious  instruction  of  the  communities 
where  they  labor.  Many  of  them  are  professed  Chris- 
tians. Some  are  successful  preachers,  while  over 
three  hundred  have  graduated  in  the  medical  depart- 


426  PROGRESS   OF    A    RACE. 

ment  and  are  now  practicing  successfully.  There  are 
more  than  five  million  colored  people  in  the  South  who 
are  asking  for  more  competent  teachers,  doctors, 
dentists,  pharmacists  and  preachers,  who  can  teach  the 
people,  better  educated  farmers  and  mechanics  and 
more  enlightened  wives  and  mothers  to  lift  the  home 
life  of  the  entire  people.  The  aim  of  this  school  is  to 
aid  in  this  great  work.  With  a  history  of  nearly  a 
third  of  a  century,  the  different  departments  of  the 
College,  now  fully  organized,  have  accomplished  a  great 
work.  This  gives  hope  for  the  future.  The  College 
buildings  consist  of  seven  brick  edifices. 

The  "Tennesseeans"  were  a  popular  troupe  who 
established  a  national  reputation  and  delighted  thou- 
sands of  intelligent  audiences  with  their  popular  plan- 
tation melodies.  With  the  proceeds  obtained  by  these 
gifted  singers  an  elegant  and  commodious  four-story 
brick  structure  was  added  to  Central  Tennessee 
College. 

Meharry  Medical  College.— The  Meharry  Medical 
Department  of  Central  Tennessee  College  was  organ- 
ized in  1876,  for  the  purpose  of  furnishing  to  the  col- 
ored people  of  the  South  an  opportunity  of  obtaining 
a  medical  education.  At  that  time  there  was  no  med- 
ical school  in  the  Southern  states  that  would  admit 
colored  students,  and  in  the  North  the  doors  of  many 
of  the  medical  colleges  were  closed  against  them. 

It  takes  its  name  from  the  generous  and  philanthropic 
family  who  so  liberally  contributed  towards  its  estab- 
lishment and  support.  In  1879,  through  the  munifi- 
cence of  the  Rev.  Samuel  Meharry,  Shawnee  Mound, 
Ind.,  and  his  brothers,  Rev.  Alexander  Meharry, 
D.D.,  and  Hugh  Meharry,  Esq.,  aided  by  Rev.  R.  S. 
Rust,  D.D.,  corresponding  secretary  of  the  Freedmen's 


MEHARRY    MEDICAL   COLLEGE, 

Nashville,  Tennessee. 


427 


428  PROGRESS    OF    A    RACE. 

Aid  Society  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  a  lot 
was  purchased,  and  the  beautiful  and  commodious  brick 
building,  now  known  as  the  Meharry  Medical  College, 
was  erected. 

This  school  has  conferred  the  degree  of  M.  D.  on 
308  students,  nearly  all  of  whom  are  now  engaged  in 
the  successful  practice  of  their  profession.  They  have 
been  kindly  received  by  the  white  physicians,  whose 
uniform  testimony  is  that  the  colored  physicians  sent 
out  by  this  school  give  evidence  of  very  thorough  prep- 
aration for  their  work.  More  than  one-half  of  the 
educated  colored  physicians  in  the  Southern  states  are 
graduates  of  this  institution.  The  success  of  this 
department  is  largely  due  to  the  untiring  zeal  and 
energy  of  Dr.  Hubbard,  who  has  for  so  many  years 
stood  at  the  head  of  this  department.  Dr.  Hubbard  is 
probably  better  informed  on  the  work  done  by  colored 
physicians  of  the  South  than  any  other  man.  Meharry 
Medical  college  stands  today  as  the  most  prominent  of 
all  the  medical  schools  for  colored  people.  Ninety-six 
per  cent  of  her  graduates  are  practicing  medicine. 

Leland  University,  New  Orleans,  La.— Leland  Uni- 
versity was  founded,  as  its  name  implies,  for  high- 
er education,  a  just  provision  for  which  is  the 
essential  factor  in  all  education,  as  its  source  and 
mainspring.  It  was  founded  in  New  Orleans,  a  great 
center  of  the  region  of  the  greatest  illiteracy  and 
therefore  of  greatest  need.  It  was  by  its  founder  and 
its  charter  opened  to  all  classes  of  citizens,  without 
distinction  of  sex  or  color,  and  therefore  became  avail- 
able, as  it  was  intended  to  be,  to  the  descendants  of 
the  class  which  was  at  that  time  most  needy,  because 
of  having  been  shut  out  from  the  privilege  of  educa- 
tion. 


EDUCATIONAL   IMPROVEMENT.  429 

At  first  it  was  found  that  this  class  were  unprepared 
for  higher  education,  not  having  received  the  lower, 
and  to  accommodate  them  a  temporary  provision  of 
primary  instruction  was  made  in  the  university.  After 
thirty  years  of  opportunity  and,  in  view  of  the  progress 
which  the  people  have  made,  in  both  primary  and  sec- 
ondary education,  a  similar  necessity  no  longer  exists. 

During  the  first  year  of  the  work  of  the  present  faculty 
(session  of  1887-88)  there  were  185  students  enrolled, 
of  whom  109  were  primary  scholars,  76  of  the  grammar 
school  grade,  and  only  14  in  the  normal  department, 
with  no  college  students.  For  three  years  about  90 
per  cent,  of  our  students  were  below  the  normal  grade, 
and  of  these  over  a  hundred  were  primary,  crowding 
our  rooms  and  our  classes  with  a  heterogeneous  mass  of 
beginners  in  the  very  rudiments  of  knowledge.  By 
authority  of  the  Board  in  1890  was  commenced  the  work 
of  establishing  auxiliary  schools  in  the  state  for  primary 
work.  Howe  Institute,  Alexandria  High  School  and 
Leland  Academy  at  Donaldsonville,  were  among  the 
first  inaugurated,  the  object  being  to  bring  preparatory 
work  nearer  to  the  people  and  thus  make  it  available 
to  a  larger  number.  At  the  same  time  the  terms  of  ad- 
mission were,  by  order  of  the  trustees,  raised  in  the  uni- 
versity to  prevent  competition  with  country  schools,  and 
to  improve  the  work  in  the  higher  classes.  The  plant- 
ing of  these  schools  has  stimulated  others,  until  now 
ten  such  institutions  exist,  where  an  eight  months' 
course  of  study  like  our  preparatory  department  has 
been  given  this  year  to  1,276  pupils,  more  than  ten 
times  as  many  as  could  have  come  to  New  Orleans  if 
they  had  desired  to  do  so.  Three  of  these  schools  are 
directly  auxiliary  to  Leland.  The  names  of  their 
teachers  and  pupils  appear  in  its  catalogue,  and  their 


430 


EDUCATIONAL    IMPROVEMENT.  431 

interests  are  under  the  fostering  care  of  its  faculty  and 
the  thoughtful  benevolence  of  its  trustees. 

Rev.  Edward  Gushing  Mitchell,  D.  D.— Since  1887 
Dr.  Mitchell,  a  distinguished  divine,  teacher  and 
author,  has  been  President  of  Leland  University. 
Through  his  untiring  zeal  he  has  succeeded  in  raising 
the  standard  of  the  institution  and  in  enlarging  and 
extending  its  work.  The  University  owes  its  existence 
to  the  late  Holbrook  Chamberlain,  Esq. ,  of  Brooklyn, 
N.  Y.,  who  erected  the  buildings,  assisted  in  its  man- 
agement, and  at  his  death  left  to  it  the  bulk  of  his 
property,  about  $100,000,  as  an  endowment  fund,  the 
interest  of  which  goes  to  the  payment  of  teachers. 

Southland  College  and  Normal  and  Industrial  In- 
stitute.— This  school  was  organized  by  the  Indiana 
Yearly  Meeting  of  the  Religious  Society  of  Friends  in 
1864;  the  College  department  was  organized  in  1872. 
The  first  class  was  graduated  in  1876.  The  leading 
object  of  the  school  is  to  qualify  teachers,  and  about 
five  hundred  have  already  gone  out  into  the  free  schools 
of  Arkansas  and  adjoining  states,  while  some  have 
been  employed  in  schools  of  higher  grade. 

The  primary  object  of  the  school  is  the  preparation 
of  teachers,  but  other  lines  of  work  have  been  taken 
up.  An  Industrial  department  has  been  added  where 
is  given  a  practical  knowledge  of  the  use  of  tools  in 
such  lines  of  work  as  will  make  students  self-sustaining 
and  will  fit  them  for  the  duties  of  useful  citizenship. 

The  school  is  at  present  in  charge  of  Prof.  Wm. 
Russell  and  wife.  During  the  past  few  years  the 
amount  of  land  owned  by  the  College  has  been  more 
than  doubled.  A  printing  press  has  been  put  in,  a 
kindergarten  department  established,  and  other  valua- 
ble improvements  made.  The  expenses  for  tuition, 


432  PROGRESS    OP    A    RACE. 

board  and  washing  range  from  eight  to  ten  dollars  per 
month,  and  many  of  the  students  pay  nearly  all  by 
work. 

The  funds  to  carry  on  the  institution  are  obtained 
from  the  income  of  an  endowment  fund  of  $35,000, 
from  annual  appropriations  of  the  Indiana  Religious 
Meetings  and  from  voluntary  donations  of  friends  of 
the  school.  Of  course,  the  products  of  the  farm  and 
the  tuition  fees  paid,  help  to  increase  the  income.  The 
school  is  located  at  the  foot  of  Crowley's  Ridge,  nine 
miles  northwest  of  Helena,  Arkansas,  in  a  remarkably 
healthy  climate.  A  high  moral  tone  and  deep  relig- 
ious convictions  are  characteristics  of  the  students  who 
remain  long  enough  in  the  school.  Southland  College 
has  been  a  factor  of  peace,  true  to  the  teachers  who 
founded  it.  Leading  citizens  of  Helena  attribute 
much  to  the  Institution  in  promoting  peace  and  harmony 
in  the  county  in  which  it  is  located.  No  mob  violences 
have  occurred  here,  and  county  offices  are  frequently 
filled  by  colored  men  of  the  different  political  parties. 

Morris  Brown  College. — Morris  Brown  College,  the 
principal  school  of  the  African  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  was  founded  in  1881.  The  site  overlooking 
the  city  of  Atlanta  was  purchased  at  a  cost  of  $3,500. 
During  the  first  year  107  students  were  enrolled;  about 
$25,000  has  been  spent  in  erecting  two  large  buildings. 
The  present  corps  of  teachers  numbers  16 ;  the  number 
of  students  430.  The  course  of  instruction  embraces 
English,  Academic,  Normal  and  Industrial  depart- 
ments. All  the  members  of  the  faculty  are  Negroes. 
Every  dollar  of  the  funds  which  are  used  in  supporting 
this  college  comes  from  Negroes.  We  run  no  risk  in 
saying  that  the  work  of  these  Negro  minds  and  hearts 
suffers  nothing  in  comparison  with  the  best  of  any  race. 


28  Progress. 


433 


434  PROGRESS    OF    A    RACE. 

A  number  have  graduated  from  the  lower  classes. 
It  will  have  its  first  classical  graduates  in  '98.  This 
institution  bids  fair  to  become  the  leading  institution 
entirely  manned  by  Negroes.  All  that  it  needs  is  to 
be  properly  encouraged  and  fostered.  It  has  the 
advantage  of  Wilburforce  in  that  it  is  situated  in  the 
very  heart  of  the  South,  where  so  .many  of  the  colored 
race  are  anxious  to  obtain  an  education. 

It  needs  funds  to  complete  the  central  building,  as 
well  as  to  carry  on  the  work  in  general.  This  institu- 
tion is  indeed  an  honor  to  the  race.  Theory  sometimes 
fails  of  conviction,  but  the  most  obdurate  mind  will  be 
convinced  of  such  a  practical  proof  of  the  Negroes' 
ability. 

Prof.  James  Henderson  is  president  since  1888. 

Livingstone  College. — Livingstone  College  is  the 
principal  college  of  the  A.  M.  E.  Zion  Church.  It  was 
organized  in  1882,  in  Salisbury,  N.  C.  Its  existence  is 
largely  due  to  the  energy  of  that  prince  of  orators, 
Rev.  j .  C.  Price,  who  afterwards  became  its  president. 
He  collected  funds  both  in  this  country  and  in  Europe. 
The  valuation  of  the  buildings  and  grounds,  now 
about  50  acres,  13  estimated  at  $100,000.  Although 
young  in  years  its  graduates  have  already  passed  the 
hundred  mark.  President  Price,  its  efficient  and 
popular  president,  devoted  his  life  to  the  work  of  this 
institution.  There  have  been  enrolled  more  than  three 
hundred  students.  The  death  of  President  Price,  in 
1893,  was  a  blow  to  Livingstone.  The  work  is  being 
carried  on  by  his  successor,  Dr.  H.  Goler. 

A  humble  colored  man  recently  loaned  the  Baptists 
of  Virginia  $13,000,  with  which  to  build  a  seminary 
at  Lynchburg. 


EDUCATIONAL    IMPROVEMENT.  435 

Knoxville  College  is  located  at  Knoxville,  Tennes- 
see, and  is  under  the  control  of  the  Board  of  Missions 
to  the  Freedmen  of  the  United  Presbyterian  Church 
of  North  America,  which  supports  it  in  part  by  volun- 
tary contributions.  By  arrangement  with  the  Univer- 
sity of  Tennessee,  the  college  is  also  the  Industrial 
Department  of  the  university,  for  colored  students. 
For  this  purpose  the  university  has  added  largely  to 
the  equipment  of  the  Agricultural  Department  and 
the  Mechanical  Department,  provides  for  the  salaries 
of  the  professors  of  these  departments,  and  sets  aside 
$600  annually  to  pay  for  the  labor  of  students  in  these 
departments.  Thus  they  are  enabled  to  earn  part  of 
their  expense;  besides  each  has  the  opportunity  of 
learning  a  trade. 

The  faculty  of  the  college,  including  matrons  and 
instructors  in  the  Industrial  Department,  numbers 
twenty-five.  In  1899  Rev.  R.  W.  McGranahan,  D.D., 
became  its  president. 

Knoxville  College  stands  for  the  most  thorough 
intellectual  and  industrial  training.  It  is  in  hearty 
sympathy  with  all  efforts  to  teach  the  trades  to  the 
colored  people,  and  is  maintaining  a  thorough  Indus- 
trial Department  for  that  purpose.  The  courses  of 
study  offered  are  classical,  scientific,  theological, 
normal  and  common  school.  The  Industrial  Depart- 
ment offers  training  in  agriculture,  carpentering, 
electrical  work,  printing,  cooking,  sewing  and  house- 
work. The  Agricultural  Department  is  not  confined 
to  the  eighty-five  acres  of  land  owned  by  the  college, 
but  a  considerable  tract  adjoining  is  rented,  and  gives 
employment  to  many  students.  Its  property,  consisting 
of  nine  buildings  and  eighty-five  acres  of  land,  is  valued 
at  $110,000. 


436 


EDUCATIONAL    IMPROVEMENT.  437 

Arkansas  Baptist  College,  Little  Rock,  Ark.,  has 

made  rapid  strides  during  the  first  twelve  years  of  its 
existence.  The  attendance  has  increased  from  year 
to  year  till  the.  last  matriculation  register  shows  nearly 
two  hundred  names  who  attended  some  of  its  depart^ 
ments  during  the  past  year.  Consequently,  it  now 
wields  a  wide-spread  influence  over  the  entire  state 
and  adjacent  states.  During  the  summer  vacation 
(1899)  the  president  has  had  applications  from  Geor- 
gia, North  Carolina,  Mississippi,  Louisiana,  Texas, 
Missouri,  Alabama,  Indian  Territory,  and  Oklahoma. 

Besides  the  increased  attendance  and  the  conse- 
quent growth  of  influence  ever  strengthening  and 
ever  widening,  its  property  values  have  enhanced  and 
its  improvements  have  moved  steadily  on  in  spite  of 
the  hard  times.  The  great  brick  structure  has  been 
nicely  finished  on  the  inside,  with  a  chapel  large 
enough  to  accommodate  five  hundred,  with  an  elegant 
suite  of  office  rooms,  and  ample  recitation  rooms. 

The  property  is  located  in  the,  southwest  part  of  the 
city,  between  two  of  the  most  popular  street  railway 
lines,  fine  electric  cars  passing  every  twelve  minutes. 

The  printing  department  also  has  a  handsome 
building  25x60,  in  which  there  is  placed  'a  large 
Prouty  power  press,  operated  either  by  hand  or 
mechanical  power,  a  small  job  press  and  six  racks 
or  stands  fitted  with  a  great  variety  of  news  and  job 
type.  From  this  department  the  students  issue  the 
Baptist  Vanguard,  most  of  the  denominational  minutes, 
college  catalogues  and  smaller  jobs  for  local  patrons. 
A  small  beginning  has  also  been  made  in  the  line  of 
carpentry  and  shoe  mending,  fashionable  and  plain 
sewing,  cooking  and  laundry  work. 


438 


PROGRESS    OF    A    RACE. 


Howard  University. — Howard  University  was  estab- 
lished by  the  government  primarily  through  the 
instrumentality  of  General  O.  Howard,  the  distin- 
guished soldier  whose  name  it  bears.  It  has  always 
welcomed  all  nationalities  alike.  The  work  of  this 
university  is  now  well  known  to  the  country.  It  is 
confessedly  the  leader  in  the  education  of  the  Negro 
race.  Every  year  the  trustees  seek  to  enlarge  its 
scope  and  fit  it  for  greater  usefulness.  With  its 
departments  of  theology,  medicine,  dentistry,  phar- 
macy, law,  industry,  music,  and  nurse  training,  it  is 
accomplishing  much  in  elevating  the  Negro. 

Samuel  Huston  College. — The  Samuel  Huston 
College  was  opened  Nov.  i,  1900.  It  is  under  the 
auspices  of  the  Freedmen's  Aid  and  Southern  Educa- 
tional Society  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  church.  Mr. 
Samuel  Huston  of  Iowa  gave  $9,000  to  begin  this 


SAMUEL    HUSTON  COLLEGE,    AUSTIN,    TEXAS. 

school.  The  West  Texas  Conference  and  the  Freed- 
men's Aid  Society  appropriated  enough  more  to  bring 
the  estimated  value  to  about  $30,000.  The  school 


EDUCATIONAL    IMPROVEMENT  439 

bids  fair  to  be  one  of  the  best  in  the  South.     Though 
but  a  year  old,  its  enrollment  is  about  250. 

Public  School  Expenses  in  the  South.— The  fol- 
lowing is  from  the  pen  of  Robert  Lloyd  Smith  concern- 
ing the  Sixth  Negro  Conference  held  at  Atlanta 
University,  Atlanta,  Georgia.  There  is  room  to 
question  the  accuracy  of  the  statements  about  the 
indirect  taxes.  Of  necessity  the  amount  given  in  that 
item  must  be,  in  part,  at  least,  estimated.  But  after 
making  due  allowance  for  any  possible  exaggeration, 
the  showing  is  still  decidedly  encouraging. 

"Papers  were  read  upon  different  phases  of  the 
Negro  common  school  as  it  related  to  town  and 
country,  school  equipment  and  qualification,  but  the 
interest  centered  in  the  charts,  which  were  statistical 
and  prepared  under  the  direction  of  Professor  Dubois. 

"These  charts  showed  the  school  population  of  Negro 
children,  the  enrollment,  the  average  attendance, 
the  sources  of  the  school  fund,  the  amounts  contrib- 
uted by  either  race,  the  number  of  school  buildings, 
their  condition  and  cost,  qualification  of  teachers  of 
both  races,  cost  of  Negro  common  schools  from  1870  to 
1898,  and  the  relative  contributions  and  expenses  of 
the  public  schools  for  Negroes  in  a  group  of  states. 

"There  are  now  2,912,910  Negro  children  of  school 
age  in  the  South — almost  as  many  as  the  whole  Negro 
population  at  the  breaking  out  of  the  war.  The  total 
enrollment  is  1,511,618,  a  fraction  more  than  half  of 
the  children  of  school  age ;  the  average  daily  attend- 
ance is  969,011,  which  indicates  that  for  every  Negro 
child  in  school  in  the  South  there  are  two  who 
are  somewhere  else.  The  number  of  colored  teachers 
is  28,560,  a  standing  army  of  unselfish  workers,  as 
subsequent  statistics  will  show.  The  states  having 
the  greatest  number  of  teachers  are  Georgia,  Missis- 
sippi, Texas  and  Alabama,  each  of  which  has  more 
than  three  thousand  in  her  common  schools. 

"The  Negroes  in  Texas  have  deeded  to  them  in  trust 


44U  PROGRESS  OF  A  RACE. 

for  school  purposes  $608,212,  which  is  more  than  the 
worth  of  all  the  white  and  Negro  school  buildings  in 
either  Georgia,  Florida  or  South  Carolina. 

"Some  of  the  statistics  gathered  by  this  conference 
and  displayed  at  the  sessions  were  strikingly  surpris- 
ing, because  they  were  at  complete  variance  with 
popular  belief  upon  these  subjects. 

4  'For  example,  the  statement  has  been  made  so  of  ten 
and  not  disputed  that  the  South  (meaning  the  white 
people  of  the  South,  of  course)  has  spent  over  $100,000,- 
ooo  upon  the  education  of  the  Negro  since  1870,  that  one 
might  be  disposed  to  question  the  reliability  of  the  fol- 
lowing figures  if  they  had  been  prepared  by  an  authority 
less  eminent. 

"Total  cost  of  Negro  common  schools  in  16  Southern 
states  from  1870  to  1898  ...........................  $101,860,661 

Contributed  by  Negro  direct  taxation  ...............     29,539,561 


By  indirect  taxation  .......  .  ................  j  ?~»    £.000,000 

"This  is  a  magnificent  showing  for  a  race  which  has 
had  only  thirty-five  years  of  partial  opportunity,  and 
the  North  can  relieve  itself  hereafter  from  any  qualms 
it  may  have  experienced  from  daring  to  differ  from 
the  white  South  in  the  matter  of  Negro  education. 
A  cool  hundred  million  given  directly  for  the  education 
of  the  blacks  would  almost  establish  the  right  to 
dictate  the  whole  educational  policy,  but  the  state- 
ment is  not  founded  on  facts.  If  this  chart  was  a  surprise, 
what  could  be  said  of  these  figures  taken  from  the 
official  reports  of  Georgia,  South  Carolina,  Louisiana, 
Mississippi  and  Florida? 
"Negro  direct  taxes  in  the  above  group  for  the  year  1900 

for  educational  purposes  ..............................  $339,585 

Negro  indirect  taxes  in  the  same  states  .................   925,204 

Total  contributed  to  school  fund  by  Negroes  ........  $1,264,739 

Total  expense  of  all  the  Negro  common  schools  in  these 
states  ..............................................   1,243,925 

Excess  contributed  by  Negroes  in  those  states,  as  a 
whole,  to  run  white  schools  ............  .  ..........      $20,864 

"This  does  not  seem  possible,  but  it  is  one  of  the 
strange  revolutions  that  happen  occasionally. 


EDUCATIONAL    IMPROVEMENT.  441 

"I  append  hereto  an  interesting  item  from  the  report 
of  the  superintendent  of  education  of  Florida.  It  is 
another  unexpected  surprise. 

FLORIDA. 

"In  nine 'black-belt'  counties- 
Negro  pro-rata  of  state  fund $13, 554 

Negro  pro-rata  of  railroad  tax 3,630 

Negro  pro-rata  of  other  taxes 3,000 

Direct  taxes  paid  by  Negroes 3,800 

Total  contributed  by  Negroes $23,984 

Actual  cost  of  Negro  schools 19.454 

Contributed  by  Negroes  for  education  of  whites 4.527 

"The  work,  then,  of  this  conference  may  be  briefly 
summed  up  as  follows:  The  school  facilities  for  both 
races  as  regards  equipment,  teachers  and  funds  are 
altogether  inadequate  to  the  pressing  needs  of  the 
people.  This  the  average  attendance  shows.  This 
would  seem  to  indicate  the  fitness  of  legislation  in 
the  direction  of  compulsory  education,  but  a  law  com- 
pelling a  man  to  send  his  child  to  a  school  already 
overcrowded  to  be  taught  by  a  teacher  whose  average 
salary  is  $19.81  per  month  for  an  average  attendance 
of  sixty-five,  would  seem  farcical.  Is  it  not  a  little 
short  of  marvelous  that  in  the  period  from  1870-98 
more  than  $29,000,000  have  been  paid  toward  their 
own  education  in  the  common  schools  by  the  Negroes 
themselves  by  direct  taxes  and  a  total  not  less  than 
$40,000,000.  By  indirect  taxation  in  Georgia,  South 
Carolina  and  Louisiana,  they  receive  from  the  com- 
mon school  fund  a  sum  smaller  than  they  contribute 
by  taxation.  The  figures  are:  Georgia,  taxes  direct 
and  indirect,  $292,168;  expense  of  Negro  common 
schools,  $288,128;  Louisiana  Negro  contribution  to 
public  school  fund,  $350,080 ,  expense  of  Negro  common 
schools,  $227,023.  In  South  Carolina  they  put  into  the 
treasury  for  public  education  directly  and  indirectly 
$233, 301 ;  they  get  back  $203,033. 

4V  A  people  that  make  such  a  showing  with  the  limited 
opportunities  about  them  deserve  the  continued  sup- 
port of  those  who  admire  pluck,  perseverance  and 
progress.  It  is  a  record  of  which  any  race  may  well 
be  proud," 


442  PROGRESS   OF    A    RACE. 

Selma  University. — A  convention  of  colored  Baptists 
at  Tuscaloosa  in  1873,  decided  to  establish  a  school  for 
preachers  and  asked  the  white  brethren  for  money 
and  advice.  Receiving"  no  encouragement  they  went 
to  work  among  themselves  and  succeeded  in  opening 
the  school  at  Selma  in  1878.  In  that  year  property 
was  bought  at  a  cost  of  $3,  ooo,  and  paid  for  wholly  by 
the  colored  people.  Improvements  have  since  been 
going  on  so  that  the  property  today  is  worth  about 
$20,000.  In  1881  Rev.  W.  H.  McAlpine,  who  was  a 
slave  until  1865,  and  who  had  done  more  for  the  school 
than  any  other  man,  was  chosen  President.  The  pros- 
pects for  the  great  work  are  flattering. 

Shaw  University,  Raleigh. — This  school  was  estab- 
lished by  Rev.  H.  M.  Tupper,  of  Massachusetts,  in 
1865,  under  the  auspices  of  the  American  Baptist 
Home  Missionary  Society.  The  work  of  construction 
was  slow  in  the  beginning  but  by  liberal  contributions 
from  Mr.  Shaw,  J.  Estey  &  Co.,  George  M.  Moore 
and  other  New  England  men,  enough  was  raised  to 
erect  the  Shaw  building.  In  1875  the  school  was  in- 
corporated as  Shaw  University.  The  medical  depart- 
ment was  begun  in  the  summer  of  1881,  a  fine  building 
having  been  furnished  by  the  Leonard  family  of 
Hampden,  Massachusetts.  President  Tupper  opened 
his  first  Sunday  school  in  Raleigh  in  1865  under  an  oak 
tree;  in  1892  he  presided  over  an  institution  having 
five  large  brick  buildings  and  in  all  parts  unequaled 
by  any  other  educational  institution  in  the  state.  To 
him  is  largely  due  the  success  of  the  project,  for  he, 
by  persistent  effort  even  to  the  manufacture  of  brick 
on  the  farm  and  the  construction  of  the  building, 
devoted  his  whole  strength  to  the  work.  The  school 
has  six  departments  and  is  doing  a  great  work  in  pre- 


EDUCATIONAL    IMPROVEMENT.  443 

paring  teachers  and  ministers  for  the  South  as  well  as 
for  Africa. 

Roger  Williams  University. — The  beginning  of  the 
work  of  the  Baptist  Home  Missionary  Society  in  Nash- 
ville dates  back  to  the  close  of  the  war.  Rev.  H.  L. 
Wayland  was  the  first  missionary  teacher  in  that  place. 
Rev.  D.  W.  Phillips  succeeded  him,  and  in  1875  a 
large  building  was  erected  at  a  cost  of  nearly  fifty 
thousand  dollars.  The  school,  from  the  beginning, 
has  maintained  a  high  reputation  for  thorough  work. 
The  institution  was  incorporated  in  1883.  With  a 
number  of  buildings  and  a  small  endowment  Roger 
Williams  University  is  doing  a  great  work  at  Nashville, 
although  from  the  beginning  it  has  had  powerful  com- 
petitors. The  number  of  students  is  gradually  increas- 
ing. The  graduates  are  widely  scattered  throughout 
the  South  occupying  positions  of  influence  and  useful- 
ness. 

Tougaloo  University,  Tougaloo,  Mississippi.— This 
is  emphatically  the  "Black  Belt"  plantation  school  of 
the  American  Missionary  Society,  located  in  the  midst 
of  America's  "Darkest  Africa,"  touching  by  far  the 
most  numerous  and  important  class  on  which  the  future 
of  the  Negro  rests,  the  plantation  Negro.  The  school 
was  established  in  1869.  Five  hundred  acres  were 
purchased  and  with  them  a  fine  mansion.  The  work 
of  chief  importance  is  that  of  the  normal  department, 
for  the  future  of  the  race  depends  largely  upon  the 
teachers  trained  for  the  common  schools.  Stieby  Hall, 
erected  in  1882,  is  the  boys'  dormitory,  accommodating 
from  seventy  to  eighty  boys.  The  Theological  depart- 
ment was  established  about  seven  years  ago  and  is 
doing  a  great  work  in  that  direction.  Senator  Beard 
says  it  would  quite  repay  those  who  would  study  the 


444  PROGRESS   OF  A  RACE. 

problem  of  saving  Negro  children  of  the  rural  districts 
of  the  "Black  Belt,"  to  go  far  out  of  their  way  to  visit 
Tougaloo.  Tougaloo  is  a  great  school  where  efficiency 
and  economy  are  found  pulling  quietly  in  the  same 
harness  as  in  few  institutions. 

Biddle  University,  Charlotte,  North  Carolina,  was 
opened  at  the  close  of  the  war  between  the  states.  The 
first  teachers  were  Rev.  S.  C.  Alexander  and  Rev.  W. 
G.  Miller.  The  liberality  of  Mrs.  Mary  D.  Biddle,  of 
Philadelphia,  gave  to  the  institution  its  first  generous 
contribution.  Her  husband  had  yielded  his  life  in  the 
cause  of  the  Union,  and  Mrs.  Biddle  requested  the 
privilege  of  perpetuating  his  memory  in  connection 
with  the  school.  Generous  gifts  from  friends  in  the 
North  have  not  been  wanting,  and  the  school  is  on  a 
good  financial  basis. 

The  property  is  vested  in  a  board  of  trustees,  and  a 
clause  in  the  charter  makes  it  the  perpetual  heritage 
of  the  colored  people  in  connection  with  the  Presby- 
terian Church.  There  are  thirteen  buildings.  The 
main  building,  devoted  to  recitation  rooms,  library, 
chapel,  etc.,  was  built  at  a  cost  of  $40,000.  The 
grounds  include  sixty  acres  situated  one  mile  west  of 
Charlotte.  The  total  valuation  of  grounds  and  build- 
ings is  $125,000.  There  are  four  departments,  the 
School  of  Theology,  School  of  Arts  and  Sciences, 
Normal  and  Preparatory  School,  and  School  of  Indus- 
try, in  which  are  taught  the  various  trades. 

Self  Support. — The  students  are  being  educated  to 
rely  upon  themselves  and  become  self-supporting. 
The  total  earnings  of  the  students  for  the  year  ending 
October,  1895,  amounted  to  $11,291. 

Graduates. — The  graduates  are  distributed  as  fol- 
lows: Theology,  73;  School  of  Art  and  Sciences,  118; 


416  PROGRESS    OF    A    RACE. 

Normal  and  Preparatory  School,  183;  62  are  active 
ministers  of  the  colored  Presbyterian  Church;  6  are 
serving  at  Biddle  as  professors;  i  is  a  foreign  mis- 
sionary in  Africa  and  professor  of  Latin  and  Greek  in 
Liberia  College;  i  is  a  bishop  in  the  A.  M.  E.  Zion 
Church.  A  number  are  lawyers  and  physicians,  and 
many  are  teachers  in  normal,  high  and  public  schools. 
Since  1891  Rev.  D.  J.  Sanders,  D.  D.,  is  president. 
The  faculty  and  not  a  few  of  the  students  are  aware  of 
the  important  part  played  by  the  spiritual  tone  of  the 
university  life.  Earnest  efforts  are  made  to  induce 
new  students  to  enter  upon  a  spiritual  life.  The  col- 
lege classes  contain  very  few  unconverted  persons,  and 
the  close  of  each  year  sees  seven-eighths  of  the  entire 
body  of  students  professed  followers  of  Jesus  Christ. 

Tuskegee  Conference. — One  of  the  helpful  features 
in  industrial  training  in  the  South  is  the  annual  Negro 
Conference,  held  at  Tuskegee,  Alabama.  In  this  con- 
ference are  found  men  of  all  classes,  ministers  and 
teachers,  as  well  as  farmers  and  laborers,  and  these, 
too,  have  had  an  education.  The  reports  from  differ- 
ent parts  of  the  South  are  encouraging.  We  append 
extracts  from  a  few  of  them. 

Willis  Ligon  said:  "The  first  crop  I  made  I  was  har- 
nessed like  a  mule  to  a  plow,  and  my  little  boy  held 
the  handles.  Many  colored  men  are  getting  cotton- 
gins,  grist  mills  and  saw  mills,  as  well  as  land.  I  am 
going  to  start  a  new  town  at  my  settlement  and  call  it 
Nazarene. ' '  Mr.  Ligon  has  never  missed  a  conference. 
He  owns  several  large  farms  and  is  a  stockholder  in 
both  the  banks  of  Tuskegee. 

Father  Mitchell,  a  gray-haired  farmer,  said:  "I 
tank  God  I  is  living  yet.  My  people  has  been  eating 
too  much.  Don't  laugh,  now.  Mr.  President,  you 


EDUCATIONAL    IMPROVEMENT.  447 

preached  a  mighty  good  text  last  night.  I  liked  yer 
prayer  'bout  gettin'  all  de  obstacles  out  ob  de  way 
first  I  am  a  hard-working  man,  I've  got  sons  and 
daughters.  De  Nigger  race  can  make  the  best  people 
in  de  world.  Jest  allow  me  to  call  you  Niggers,  case 
you'se  all  black.  We  can  get  land  if  any  people  can. 
We  knows  how  to  work  and  make  a  happy  home  and 
a  good  school.  I  has  learned  more  in  de  last  five  years 
since  dese  conferences  started,  dan  I  ever  knowed 
before  in  all  my  sixty  years.  We  wants  good  leaders 
as  will  take  de  difficulties  out  of  our  way.  *  *  * 
De  people  don't  count  as  much  on  religion  as  dey 
ought.  Religion  is  a  mighty  nice  thing  if  you  use  it 
right.  It  takes  a  pious  man  to  live  religion.  De  longer 
de  worl'  stands  de  wiser  it  grows.  Some  of  our  people 
is  getting  too  wise.  Many  likes  to  dance  too  much. 
De  jail-house*  is  full  and  we  is  running  excursions.  If 
you  see  a  man  crooked,  straighten  him  by  the  grace  of 
de  Lord.  We  hollers  and  shouts  too  much,  and  jumps 
like  we  was  crazy.  It  is  a  sad  thing  to  preach  de  Gos- 
pel, de  saddest  thing  dis  side  ob  de  grave.  Our 
churches  is  plumbfull  of  hypocrites.  If  a  man  preaches 
de  pure  Gospel  dey  don't  want  to  hear  it.  If  we  had 
de  truth,  white  folks  could  live  and  Niggers  could  live. 
Dey  tinks  more  of  a  bad  person  than  dey  does  ob  a 
good  one.  You  let  a  man  preach  de  true  Gospel  and 
he  won't  git  many  nickels  in  his  pocket;  but  if  he  hol- 
lers and  jumps  he  gits  all  the  nickels  he  can  hold  and 
chickens  besides.  I  has  been  in  de  cause  forty-five 
years,  and  I  knows  what  preachin'  is,  and  I  tell  you, 
if  our  young  race  don'  do  better  in  ten  years  we're 
gone.  Now,  Mr.  President,  I  fotch  you  a  hog  yester- 
day to  help  feed  this  conference,  I  hoped  to  see  eight 
or  nine  in  de  pen,  but  mine  is  de  only  one.  I'll  bring 


448  PROGRESS    OF    A    RACE. 

you  a  hog  or  a  cow  next  year.  Father  Washington, 
I'se  a-gwine  to  stick  to  you  as  long  as  I  live." 

One  report  for  a  county  in  Alabama  said:  "We  have 
one  hundred  families  owning  4,000  acres  of  land,  and 
not  more  than  ten  live  in  one-roomed  houses/' 
Another  reported  fifteen  persons  owning  nearly  2,000 
acres  and  living  in  good  houses.  Many  similar  reports 
were  given  from  other  states.  It  is  not  always  an  easy 
matter  for  colored  people  to  purchase  land.  Many 
land  owners  do  not  like  to  sell  in  small  tracts ;  others 
will  not  sell  to  Negroes.  The  mortgage  system  has  no 
friends  in  this  conference,  not  one  word  being  raised  in 
its  favor.  The  tide  is  turning.  Many  are  still,  how- 
ever, sadly  in  its  clutches  but  struggling  hard  to  free 
themselves  from  its  power.  In  one  community  the 
wives  have  an  organization  by  which  to  reduce  home 
expenses;  instead  of  buying  on  credit  at"  greatly  in- 
creased prices,  they  bring  together  their  butter,  eggs, 
chickens  and  the  like,  till  enough  is  collected  to  pur- 
chase one  hundred  pounds  of  meat  for  cash  at  half  the 
price  they  formerly  paid.  This  meat  they  divide 
among  themselves  and  save  money ;  i,  300  pounds  have 
thus  been  bought.  The  one-roomed  cabin  was  thor- 
oughly discussed  and  the  reports  show  that  its  days 
are  numbered.  Houses  with  two,  three,  four  or  five 
rooms  are  to  be  seen  where  formerly  the  cabin  was 
thought  to  be  sufficient.  Tenants  are  demanding  bet- 
ter houses,  and  land  owners  are  forced  to  give  them  or 
lose  good  farm  hands. 

Mr.  R.  L.  Smith,  of  Oakland,  Texas,  a  young  man 
with  only  one  arm,  a  school  teacher,  practical  farmer, 
and  a  member  of  the  state  legislature,  said:  "About 
five  years  ago  I  began  to  look  into  the  condition  of  my 
people.  I  found  them  making  good  crops,  from  one 


BOYD    BUILDING.   NASHVILLE.  TENN. 


EDUCATIONAL   IMPROVEMENT.  449 

and  a  half  to  two  bales  of  cotton  per  acre,  but  their 
homes  were  small  and  the  influences  surrounding  them 
bad.  In  1892  I  started  a  society  called  the  'Village 
Improvement  Society.'  We  have  fifty-six  members 
in  a  village  of  two  hundred  people.  In  five  years 
fifteen  families  have  spent  $10,000  in  improvements. 
The  surrounding  country  has  been  helped  by  our  work. 
Our  smallest  house  now  has  four  rooms  in  it  and  some 
have  eight  rooms.  Last  year  we  extended  the  order 
and  called  it  'The  Farmers'  Improvement  Society,' 
with  about  seven  hundred  members.  We  have  five 
purposes :  to  get  out  of  debt,  and  keep  out,  to  adopt 
improved  methods  of  farming,  to  co-operate  in  buying 
and  selling,  to  get  homes  and  to  improve  them. 
*  *  *  One  result  of  our  efforts  has  been  a  marked 
change  in  the  treatment  we  have  received  from  the 
white  people.  Texas  is  more  liberal  than  most  of  the 
Southern  states.  I  was  more  or  less  guided  in  my 
work  by  what  I  had  heard  or  read  of  the  Tuskegee 
conferences."  Mr.  Smith  showed  many  pictures  of 
homes  and  families  in  Oakland.  He  said  he  had  car- 
ried on  this  work  in  connection  with  his  school  and 
farm,  and  that  the  legislature  of  Texas  was  so  much 
interested  in  his  coming  to  Tuskegee  that  it  gave  him 
a  leave  of  absence  and  promised  to  defer  action  on  a 
bill  in  which  he  was  interested  until  his  return  home. 
A  young  teacher  and  farmer  from  Choctaw  county 
said:  "When  we  heard  what  Tuskegee  was  doing  I 
said  to  our  people,  *  We  can  do  it,  too. '  So  we  organ- 
ized a  conference  in  our  county.  We  are  under  the 
mortgage  system.  Our  labor  is  unskilled.  Last  year 
of  twenty-five  families  with  mortgages  on  their  crops 
only  twelve  were  able  to  pay  them.  Forty-four  fam- 
ilies lived  on  rented  lands  in  one  'beat, '  six  of  them  in 

20  Progress. 


450  PROGRESS    OF    A    RACE. 

houses  with  only  one  room ;  some  raised  nothing  but 
cotton.  Twenty-four  families  have  recently  bought 
land,  ten  are  building  better  homes,  nine  report  that 
they  lived  for  the  year  without  a  mortgage.  The 
average  length  of  our  school  term  is  three  months. 
We  have  no  school  houses  but  use  the  churches,  which 
are  not  fit  for  service  in  winter.  Sixty  per  cent,  of 
the  teachers  hold  third-grade  certificates,  30  per  cent, 
second  grade,  and  4  per  cent,  first  grade.  Morals  are 
better  than  they  used  to  be ;  women  are  treated  better 
on  the  whole ;  less  whisky  is  used,  and,  as  we  have 
no  railroads  in  our  county,  we  are  not  troubled  with 
excursions.  We  propose  to  organize  conferences 
throughout  the  whole  county  and  gradually  bring  the 
people  up.  Our  people  get  money  enough  but  don't  use 
it  right. ' ' 

Roscoe  C.  Bruce. — Roscoe  C.  Bruce,  the  son  of  Ex- 
Senator  Bruce  from  Mississippi,  who  went  from  the 
colored  high  schools  of  Washington  to  Phillips  Exeter 
Academy,  New  Hampshire,  was  honored  in  1897  by 
an  election  as  assistant  editor  for  the  magazine  pub- 
lished by  the  students  of  that  institution.  The  color 
line  was  not  drawn  here.  Young  Bruce  is  a  remarka- 
bly bright  and  handsome  fellow  and  has  made  many 
friends  at  Phillips  Exeter.  He  has  distinguished  him- 
self for  scholarship  and  oratory.  He  will  graduate  in 
1898  and  will  probably  enter  Harvard  University. 
The  catalogue  of  Harvard  University  now  contains  the 
names  of  six  colored  men,  three  of  them  in  the  senior 
class.  In  the  * '  Life  and  Letters  of  Roscoe  Conkling, ' ' 
the  circumstances  under  which  young  Bruce  was 
named  are  given,  and  there  appears  a  letter  from 
Senator  Bruce  in  which  he  asks  permission  to  christen 
his  son  in  honor  of  Mr.  Conkling,  because  when  he  first 


EDUCATIONAL   IMPROVEMENT.  451 

entered  the  senate  chamber  to  take  the  oath  of  office 
Mr.  Conkling  was  the  first  man  to  offer  him  welcome. 
44 The  effect  upon  some  members  of  the  senate,"  wrote 
Mr.  Bruce,  "  was  so  marked  that  when  I  was  called  to 
be  sworn  in,  my  colleague,  Mr.  Alcorn,  a  man  who 
owed  his  seat  in  the  senate  largely  to  my  efforts,  took 
refuge  behind  a  newspaper  to  avoid  extending  the 
courtesy  usual  upon  such  occasions.  It  was  at  this 
point  that  the  grasp  of  your  hand — the  first  token  of 
friendship  that  I  had  received — and  your  warm  wel- 
come, made  me  feel  and  know  that  in  that  august  body 
I  had  a  friend.  No  one  who  has  not  undergone  a 
similar  ordeal  can  understand  and  appreciate  my  feel- 
ings on  that  occasion." 

Alabama  appropriates  $2,000  annually  for  the  sup- 
port of  a  Normal  School  for  the  training  of  colored 
teachers.  Nearly  all  the  Southern  States  make  annual 
contributions  for  the  education  of  their  colored 
citizens. 

Freedman's  Savings  Bank. — Still  another  agency 
in  the  education  of  the  colored  people  was  the  Freed- 
man's Savings  Bank.  While  it  existed  it  was  one  of 
the  most  powerful  agencies  in  the  education  of  the 
colored  people.  The  Freedman's  Savings  Bank  was 
organized  March  3,  1866.  It  had  thirty- three  branches, 
four  of  which  were  located  in  Georgia,  at  Atlanta, 
Macon,  Augusta  and  Savannah.  During  the  nine 
years  of  its  existence  the  total  deposits  amounted  to 
$56,000,000  for  the  entire  South. 

When  it  failed  it  owed  the  colored  people  of  Georgia 
$57,149.38.  While  its  loss  entailed  great  misery  on 
many,  it  taught  the  colored  people  that  they  could 
save,  and  thus  laid  the  basis  of  the  material  prosperity 
which  has  attended  the  efforts  of  the  colored  people  of 


452  PROGRESS    OF    A    RACE. 

Georgia.  The  colored  people  of  Georgia  pay  taxes 
now  on  about  $16,000,000  worth  of  real  and  personal 
property,  and  have,  perhaps,  not  less  than  $2,000,000 
on  deposit  in  the  banks  of  the  state  and  in  bonds. 

Such  were  some  of  the  various  agencies  which  were 
at  work  during  that  early  formative  stage  of  Negro 
education.  And  such  and  so  great  was  the  work  of 
preparing  the  colored  people  for  the  public  school  sys- 
tem which  was  inaugurated  in  1871. 

The  Colored  Press. — Considering  the  time  since  the 
Negro  was  freed  there  has  been  a  remarkable  advance- 
ment in  providing  literature  for  the  colored  people. 
There  have  been  not  a  few  authors  of  note  of  the  race, 
but  in  the  colored  press  we  find  a  repetition  of  the 
press  in  general.  There  are  in  the  United  States  be- 
tween three  hundred  and  three  hundred  and  fifty 
colored  newspapers,  the  number  varying  with  the 
campaigns,  etc.  There  are  at  least  twenty  colored 
papers  of  large  circulation  and  influence  and  standing ; 
among  these  may  be  mentioned :  The  Christian  Record, 
The  Star  of  Zion,  The  American  Baptist,  The  Christian 
Index  and  The  Afro- American  Presbyterian.  The  best 
secular  papers  are  The  New  York  Age,  The  Indianapolis 
Freeman,  The  Colored  American,  of  Washington,  D.  C., 
The  Richmond  Planet,  and  The  Philadelphia  Tribune. 

Character. — Of  many  of  the  papers  for  colored  peo- 
ple it  might  be  said,  as  of  many  other  papers,  that  it 
would  be  better  that  they  had  no  existence.  The  hope 
of  the  race  lies  in  education.  The  colored  man  must 
read,  and,  as  has  been  said  before,  it  would  be  better 
for  him  not  to  read  at  all  than  to  read  the  trashy  liter- 
ature of  today.  While  the  colored  press  in  a  general 
way  is  doing  much  for  the  elevation  of  the  Negro,  yet 
the  number  of  papers  published  and  the  large  circula- 


EDUCATIONAL   IMPROVEMENT.  453 

tion  of  some  of  them  is  not  a  criterion  of  good  work 
done.  The  press,  pulpit  and  the  platform  have  been 
great  liberators  of  the  nations,  but,  in  order  that  this 
should  be  the  case  with  the  Afro- American  press,  like 
that  of  any  race,  there  must  be  an  ennobling  and  ele- 
vated tone.  Without  this  the  daily  and  weekly  paper 
becomes  a  curse  instead  of  a  blessing.  Records  of 
riots,  mobs,  murders,  and  every- day  misdoings  do 
not  elevate  the  morals  of  the  reading  public.  Too 
often  it  is  forgotten  that  the  editorial  chair  requires 
more  culture  than  is  gotten  by  reading  the  newspapers, 
and  to  the  detriment  of  the  race  there  are  those  who 
are  editing  some  of  these  race  journals  that  ought  to 
be  relegated  to  the  rear. 

Able  Editors. — The  editor  who  is  sending  out  week 
by  week  into  the  families  of  his  patrons,  a  paper  that 
is  to  benefit  its  readers,  ought  to  be  able  to  grapple 
with  the  problems  of  the  day,  the  problems  upon 
which  depend  the  elevation  and  the  continued 
advancement  of  the  race.  With  Dr.  Crummell  we 
believe  that  it  would  be  better  that  many  of  these  race 
journals  were  not  to  exist,  because  of  the  incompetency 
in  the  editorial  management.  Ministers,  physicians, 
lawyers  and  leaders  in  general,  can  do  much  toward 
suppressing  objectionable  literature  of  today  by  advo- 
cating the  patronizing  only  of  such  papers  as  are 
ennobling  and  are  building  up  the  race.  Select  your 
paper,  not  for  its  value  in  dollars  and  cents,  but  rather 
for  the  contents  of  its  columns. 

Religious  Papers.— Every  family  should  have  at 
least  one  religious  paper.  Even  in  religious  papers 
some  might  be  greatly  improved,  but  when  it  comes 
to  the  secular  paper  it  were  much  better  not  to  take  a 
paper  at  all  than  to  allow  the  trashy  and  objectionable 


454  PROGRESS   OF   A    RACE. 

newspaper,  that  has  no  definite  aim,  to  enter  the 
home.  Here  is  a  field  that  ought  not  to  be  overlooked. 
The  colored  youth  of  today  will  read. 

Good  Literature. — Let  parents  and  leaders  in  society 
everywhere  see  to  it  that  the  literature  placed  in  the 
hands  of  the  youth  of  the  race  is. ennobling,  elevating 
and  instructive,  and  a  great  forward  movement  will 
have  been  made  in  advancing  the  interests  of  the  race 
in  general.  Banish  the  low,  trashy  and  sensational 
literature  from  your  homes.  Avoid  it  as  you  would  a 
pestilence,  and  your  sons  and  daughters  will  in  the 
future  rise  up  and  in  improved  manhood  and  woman- 
hood pronounce  blessings  upon  your  heads. 

The  First  Daily  Newspaper  published  by  the  colored 
people  was  the  Cairo  Gazette,  owned,  edited  and  pub- 
lished by  Hon.  W.  S.  Scott,  of  Cairo,  Illinois.  The 
first  issue  came  from  the  press  April  23,  1882. 

First  Newspaper  in  the  South. — The  first  race  news- 
paper published  in  the  South  for  the  colored  men 
was  the  Colored  American.  It  was  published  in  Augusta, 
Georgia,  and  was  edited  by  J.  T.  Shuften  in  1865. 
We  find  the  following  description  of  this  paper  in  the 
Afro- American  Press :  "  It  is  designed,  to  be  a  vehicle 
for  the  diffusion  of  religious,  political  and  general  intel- 
ligence. It  will  be  devoted  to  the  promotion  of  harmony 
and  good  will  between  the  whites  and  colored  people 
of  the  South,  and  uniting  in  its  advocacy  of  industry 
and  education  among  all  classes ;  but  particularly  the 
class  most  -in  need  of  our  agency.  It  will  steadfastly 
oppose  all  forms  of  vice  that  prey  upon  society,  and 
give  that  counsel  that  tends  to  virtue,  peace  and  pros- 
perity and  happiness. "  . '. 


CHAPTER  XV. 

RELIGION  AND  THE   NEGRO. 

A  Religious  Nature. — Whatever  else  the  Negro  may 

or  may  not  possess,  it  is  generally  conceded  that  he  has 
an  intensely  religious  nature.  His  religion,  it  is  true, 
does  not  always  manifest  itself  according  to  the  precise 
rules  and  requirements  of  cultured  and  refined  society. 
He  is  sometimes  boisterous,  very  demonstrative,  and 
altogether  emotional.  By  the  superficial  observer, 
these  characteristics  are  regarded  as  extremely  ludi- 
crous, if  not  disgusting,  and  are  usually  catalogued, 
with  great  self-complacency,  among  the  "idiosyncrasies 
of  the  Negro. ' '  The  thoughtful  mind,  however,  recog- 
nizes beneath  all  these  crudities  a  buoyant  spirituality 
— a  spirituality  which  even  the  malign  influences  of 
slavery  could  not  suppress.  It  was  Burke  who  said, 
"Religion,  to  have  any  force  upon  men's  under- 
standings,— indeed,  to  exist  at  all, — must  be  sup- 
posed paramount  to  law,  and  independent  for  its 
subsistence  upon  any  human  institution. ' '  This  glori- 
ous truth,  arrived  at  through  reasoning  and  reflec- 
tion by  England's  great  political  philosopher,  seems 
to  have  been  grasped  intuitively  by  the  ignorant 
Negro  in  the  days  of  his  bondage.  Above  the  law 
that  fixed  his  hard  condition  and  held  him  therein, 
above  the  sophistry  of  ecclesiasticism  that  perverted 
truth  to  justify  unrighteous  legislation,  his  faith  rose 
sublimely  and  took  hold  upon  the  unseen  "Power  that 
maketh  for  righteousness." 
Sustained  by  Faith.— It  was  this  f aith  that  sustained 

4*9 


fl    « 


H  «» 

H  u  < 

S  fe  o 

O  W  X 

2  W  H 


456 


RELIGION    AND    THE    NEGRO.  457 

him  in  his  darkest  hours,  that  caused  melody  to  well 
up  in  his  soul,  and  gush  forth  in  his  voice.  It  was 
this  faith  that  enabled  him  to  endure  patiently,  with- 
out cherishing  feelings  of  vengeance  against  those 
whom  he  might  justly  have  regarded  as  oppressors. 
Finally,  it  was  this  faith  that  formed  the  substratum 
of  his  preliminary  training,  however  inadequate,  for 
the  larger  life  that  was  to  be  realized  under  freedom. 
"By  that  mysterious  influence,"  says  Dr.  Ely  den, 
"which  is  imparted  to  man  independently  of  outward 
circumstances,  to  not  a  few  of  them  the  preaching  of 
the  Gospel,  defective  as  was  its  practical  exemplifica- 
tion, opened  a  new  world  of  truth  and  goodness.  There 
streamed  into  the  darkness  of  their  surroundings  a 
light  from  the  Cross  of  Christ,  and  they  saw  that, 
through  suffering  and  affliction,  there  is  a  path  to  per- 
fect rest  above  this  world ;  and  in  the  hours  of  the  most 
degrading  and  exhausting  toil,  they  sang  of  the  eternal 
and  the  unseen ;  so  that  while  the  scrupulous  among 
their  masters  often,  with  Jefferson,  "trembled  for  their 
country, ' '  the  slaves  who  had  gained  a  new  language 
and  new  faculties  were  enjoying  themselves  in  raptur- 
ous music — often  laboring  and  suffering  all  day,  and 
singing  all  night  sacred  songs  which,  in  rude  but 
impressive  language,  set  forth  their  sad  fortunes  and 
their  hopes  for  the  future. 

Cheerful  Music. — No  traveler  in  the  South,  who 
passed  by  the  plantations  thronged  with  dusky  laborers, 
and  listened  to  their  cheerful  music,  could  ever  dream 
that  they  beheld  in  that  suffering  but  joyous  race  the 
destroyers  of  the  Southern  whites.  The  captive  Jews 
could  not  sing  by  the  waters  of  Babylon,  but  the 
Negroes,  in  the  dark  dungeons  of  American  slavery, 
made  themselves  harps  and  swept  them  to  some  of  the 
most  thrilling  melodies," 


458  PROGRESS  OF  A  RACE. 

Noticeable  Fact. — It  is  a  noticeable  fact,  and  indic- 
ative of  the  susceptibility  of  the  Negro's  nature  to 
religious  influences,  that,  with  such  limited  insight 
into  divine  truth,  there  should  have  sprung  up  all  over 
the  South  among  them  so  many  effective  preachers 
and  exhorters — some  of  them  men  of  extraordinary 
natural  endowments.  Stevens,  in  his  history  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  has  the  following  inter- 
esting statement: 

"Harry  Hosier,  better  known  as  'Black  Harry,'  was 
the  traveling  servant  of  Bishop  Asbury,  and  had  a 
popularity  as  a  preacher  which  excelled  that  of  the 
bishop  himself.  Dr.  Rush,  whose  predilections  for 
Methodist  preaching  are  well  known,  did  not  disdain 
to  hear  him,  and  making  allowance  for  his  illiteracy 
(for  he  could  not  read),  pronounced  him  the  greatest 
orator  in  America. ' ' 

Genuineness. — As  to  the  genuineness  of  the  Negro's 
religion,  the  late  Bishop  Haygood  has  said:  "I  know 
that  the  religious  life  of  the  colored  people  in  the  days 
of  slavery  was  not  what  it  ought  to  have  been,  yet 
among  them  were  the  holiest  of  men  and  women. ' ' 

Strangest  Characteristic.— The  same  author  has 
elsewhere  expressed  an  opinion  which  those  endeavor- 
ing to  educate  the  race  might  do  well  to  consider.  He 
says:  "As  to  my  opinion— with  as  good  opportunity  as 
most  men  to  know  what  the  religious  life  of  the  col- 
ored people  really  is — I  say  unhesitatingly  that  his 
religion  is  his  strongest  and  best  characteristic.  All 
there  is  of  hope  for  him  in  this  country  will  rise  or  fall 
with  the  healthy  development  or  the  decay  of  his 
religion." 

Progress  Phenomenal.— Under  freedom  the  religious 
progress  of  the  race  has  been  phenomenal,  Jt  would 


RELIGION    AND    THE    NEGRO.  459 

be  difficult  to  find  its  parallel  in  the  whole  history  of 
missions.  Over  a  million  of  these  people  are  today 
within  the  communion  of  the  Baptist  churches.  Con- 
siderably over  a  million  more  are  within  the  Methodist 
fold,  while  they  are  to  be  found  also  in  the  Congrega- 
tional, Presbyterian,  and  other  evangelical  denomina- 
tions. As  before  the  war,  even  so  now,  a  goodly 
number  of  them  are  adherents  of  the  Romish  Church. 
They  are  intensely  loyal  to  their  denomination,  and 
possess  in  a  larger  degree  than  many  other  people 
what  is  commonly  called  "church  pride." 

Organizations.  —  The  most  remarkable,  however, 
and  at  once  the  most  promising  feature  in  their 
religious  development,  is  the  organizations,  which, 
independently  of  outside  patronage,  they  have  created 
and  sustained.  The  African  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  The  Zion  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
and  the  Colored  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  in 
America,  are  large  and  influential  bodies,  containing 
eight  hundred  thousand  members  or  more.  These 
bodies,  officered  and  managed  throughout  by  colored 
men,  are  ocular  demonstrations  of  the  capability  of 
the  race,  and  are  inspiring  in  the  people  self-respect 
and  self-reliance.  Many  of  their  general  officers  are 
men  of  great  power  and  personal  magnetism,  while 
some  have  a  national  reputation. 

Liberality. — In  the  August  (1897)  number  of  "The 
Gospel  in  All  Lands,"  appears  the  following  with 
reference  to  the  religious  growth  of  the  colored  people 
since  emancipation: 

"They  have  shown  a  remarkable  degree  of  liber- 
ality in  contributing  toward  religious  purposes.  Not- 
withstanding their  poverty  and  the  discouraging 
circumstances  surrounding  them,  they  have,  in  addition 


460  PROGRESS   OF  A   RACE. 

to  the  ordinary  expenses  of  maintaining1  religious 
worship,  including  pastors'  salaries,  contributed  prob- 
ably not  less  than  ten  million  dollars  for  the  erection 
of  meeting  houses.  Some  of  these  buildings  are  large, 
comparatively  costly,  convenient  and  attractive. 

Noble  Achievements. — "They  have  done  remarka- 
bly well,  considering  all  the  circumstances,  in  the  mat- 
ter of  educational,  missionary,  charitable,  and  philan- 
thropic work ;  many  of  their  religious  institutions  of 
learning  being  managed  by  Negro  boards  of  trustees, 
taught  by  Negro  teachers,  and  supported  largely  or 
entirely  by  themselves.  They  are  also  represented  on 
the  boards  and  in  the  faculties  of  the  schools  main- 
tained for  them  by  Northern  benevolence.  The 
aggregate  amount  which  they  pay  annually  toward 
the  education  of  their  children  in  Christian  institu- 
tions is  a  very  considerable  sum.  They  have  their 
local,  state,  and  national  educational  and  missionary 
organizations,  and  are  year  by  year  making  progress 
in  the  art  of  organization  and  administration.  While 
they  have  very  much  yet  to  learn  in  the  matter  of  sys- 
tematizing their  beneficence,  of  keeping  and  rendering 
accurate  accounts  of  money  received  and  disbursed, 
they  are  apt  learners,  and  are  making  good  progress. 
They  edit  and  publish  numerous  religious  periodicals, 
some  of  them  evincing  vigor,  independence,  [and  no 
little  ability." 

The  Future. — With  such  a  showing,  made  under  the 
most  discouraging  circumstances,  what  may  not  be 
expected  of  the  race  under  improved  and  constantly 
improving  conditions? 

Churches  Important, — There  are  at  present  between 
nine  and  ten  millions  of  Negroes  in  this  country. 
This  includes  all  who  have  any  computable  fraction  of 


461 


462  PROGRESS   OF  A   RACE. 

Negro  blood  in  their  veins.  All  of  these,  with  the 
exception  of  about  five  hundred  thousand,  are  in  the 
Southern  states  where  the  emancipation  proclamation 
reached  them  and  made  them  forever  free  from  invol- 
untary bondage.  The  Negro  churches  of  the  South 
are,  therefore,  a  large  and  important  factor  in  the 
Christianity  of  that  section.  In  point  of  church  mem- 
bership the  Negro  is  quite  as  devoted  as  are  his  white 
brethren.  The  proportion  of  colored  people  who  are 
connected  with  the  churches  in  the  United  States  is 
larger  than  that  which  obtains  among  the  white 
people. 

Denominations.— As  to  denomination,  the  Negro  is 
predominantly  Baptist.  More  than  one-half  of  all 
Negro  communicants  are  of  this  faith ;  next  ccme  the 
Methodists  and  other  branches  of  the  church.  The 
increase  in  the  number  of  colored  communicants  since 
the  emancipation  proclamation  has  been  marvelous. 
There  were  at  the  outbreak  of  the  war  about  275,000 
Methodists  of  color,  while  at  the  present  there  are 
over  a  million.  Colored  Baptists  in  1860  did  not 
exceed  250,000,  while  today  they  number  1,500,000. 

Helping  Himself. — The  Negro,  considering  the  little 
wealth  he  had  at  command  when  slavery  ceased,  has 
achieved  wonders  in  the  accumulation  of  church  prop- 
erty. The  value  of  the  churches  he  owns  is  $26,626,- 
ooo,  the  number  of  edifices  being  23,770.  Making 
due  allowance  for  the  generous  help  which  the  whites 
have  given,  it  still  appears  that  the  Negro  has  not 
been  unwilling  to  make  large  sacrifices  for  the  sake  of 
religion,  and  that  his  industry,  thrift  and  business 
capacity  have  been  made  to  contribute  to  his  successful 
endeavors  to  provide  himself  with  suitable  accommo- 
dations for  public  worship. 


RELIGION  AND  THE  NEGRO.  463 

Sums  Spent. — In  education  and  evangelization  among 
the  Negroes,  the  various  religious  bodies  have  been 
specially  active.  Among  these  bodies  the  Congrega- 
tionalists  claim  to  have  spent  $11,000,000  for  the 
Negro,  and  spend  now  nearly  $400,  ooo  a  year.  The 
Methodists  have  spent  since  emancipation  $6,000,000, 
and  are  now  spending  annually  through  the  Freed- 
man's  Aid  and  Southern  Education  Society  $350,000; 
the  Presbyterian  Board  of  Missions  for  Freedmen  in 
twenty  years  have  spent  $2,400,000,  and  in  addition  to 
this  contribution  founded  Lincoln  University,  Penn- 
sylvania, in  1859.  The  Baptists  since  1865,  $3,000,000; 
the  Southern  Presbyterian  Church,  $55,000,  between 
1878  and  1894;  the  Christian  Church,  $100,000.  This 
vast  outlay  has  produced  a  result  known  and  read  of 
all  men.  No  man  has  attempted  to  deny  the  statement 
that  the  Negro  has  improved  intellectually.  Not  even 
the  bitterest  of  his  enemies  have  denied  this  statement, 
and  it  may  be  said  modestly  that  there  are  men  and 
women  among  the  Negroes  who  can  compare  favor- 
ably with  some  of  the  best  of  the  other  race. 

Christian  Ministry. — Professor  Bowen  says:  "A 
vital  question  in  this  consideration  is,  has  the  character 
of  the  Negro  Christian  Ministry  improved?  The  bald 
statement  of  truth  is  that  the  distance  between  the 
ministry  of  today  and  that  of  slavery  days,  or  the  days 
immediately  following  freedom,  cannot  be  measured 
in  words.  Then,  we  had  no  regularly  constituted 
Negro  ministry.  A  few  of  our  fathers  in  whose  heart 
the  'woe  is  me  if  I  preach  not*  burned  with  an  un- 
quenchable fire,  were  permitted  to  speak  occasionally 
to  the  slaves,  and  that  under  the  freezing  gaze  of  an 
overseer's  eye,  and  to  this  day  it  is  a  miracle  unsolved 
how  God  preserved  a  knowledge  of  the  truth  through 


464  PROGRESS  OF  A  RACE. 

the  broken  vessels  of  thought  amid  the  dervish  wor- 
ship of  the  ignorant  slaves. 

Educated  and  Consecrated. — Since  that  day  there 
has  been  a  constant  stream  of  educated  and  consecrated 
ministers  flowing  into  the  ranks  of  the  Negro  popu- 
lation. These  have  been  trained  in  the  great  universi- 
ties of  the  North.  Besides  these,  there  have  gone 
forth  from  the  institutions  established  in  the  South  for 
colored  people  large  numbers  of  genuinely  consecrated 
ministers  of  every  denomination.  Whether  it  be 
accepted  or  reflected,  the  fact  is  that  there  are  in  Negro 
pulpits  all  over  the  land  and  in  the  South  some  Negro 
preachers  who,  in  intellectual  ability,  in  moral  power 
and  purity,  and  in  spiritual  insight  and  breadth  of  wis- 
dom, are  the  equal  of  some  of  the  best  of  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  race." 

CHURCHES. 

Regular  Baptists  (Colored).— The  colored  Baptists 
of  the  South  constitute  the  most  numerous  of  regular 
Baptists.  Not  all  colored  Baptists  are  embraced  in 
this  division ;  only  those  who  have  separate  churches, 
associations,  and  state  conventions.  There  are  many 
colored  Baptists  in  Northern  states,  who  are  mostly 
counted  as  members  of  churches  belonging  to  white 
associations.  None  of  them  are  included  in  the  fol- 
lowing estimates  and  figures. 

The  first  convention  of  colored  Baptists  was  organ- 
ized in  North  Carolina  in  1866,  the  second  in  Alabama, 
and  the  third  in  Virginia  in  1867,  the  fourth  in  Arkansas 
in  1868,  and  the  fifth  in  Kentucky  in  1869.  There  are 
colored  conventions  in  fifteen  states  and  the  District 
of  Columbia. 

In  addition  to  these  organizations  the  colored  Bap- 
tists of  the  United  States  have  others  more  general  in 


w  « 

J  « 

td  5 


O  w 


THANKFUL    BAPTIST  CHURCH,  AUGUSTA.  GEORGIA. 


80  Progress. 


465 


466  PROGRESS  OF  A  RACfi. 

character:  The  American  National  Convention,  the 
purpose  of  which  is  "to  consider  the  moral,  intellectual 
and  religious  growth  of  the  denomination, ' '  to  delib- 
erate upon  questions  of  general  concern,  and  to  devise 
methods  of  bringing  the  churches  and  members  of  the 
race  together;  the  Consolidated  American  Missionary 
Convention,  the  General  Association  of  the  Western 
States  and  Territories,  the  Foreign  Mission  Conven- 
tion of  the  United  States,  and  the  New  England 
Missionary  Convention.  All  except  the  first  are  mis- 
sionary in  their  purpose. 

The  Regular  Baptists  (colored)  are  represented 
in  fifteen  states,  all  in  the  South,  or  on  the  border, 
and  the  District  of  Columbia.  In  Virginia  and  Georgia 
they  are  very  numerous,  having  in  the  latter  200,516, 
and  in  the  former  199, 87 1  communicants.  In  Alabama 
they  have  142,437;  in  North  Carolina,  134,445;  in 
Mississippi,  136,647;  in  South  Carolina,  125,572,  and 
in  Texas,  111,138  members.  The  aggregate  is  1,348,- 
989  members,  who  are  embraced  in  12,533  organizations, 
with  11,987  church  edifices,  and  church  property 
valued  at  $9,038,549.  There  are  414  associations,  of 
which  66  are  in  Alabama,  63  in  Georgia,  49  in  Missis- 
sippi, and  39  in  North  Carolina. 

African  Methodist  Episcopal.  —  This  branch  of 
American  Methodism  was  organized  in  Philadelphia  in 
1816  by  a  number  of  colored  members  of  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church.  They  withdrew  from  the  parent 
body  in  order  that  they  might  have  larger  privileges 
and  more  freedom  of  action  among  themselves  than 
they  believed  they  could  secured  in  continued  associa- 
tion with  their  white  brethren.  The  Rev.  Richard 
Allen  was  elected  the  first  bishop  of  the  new  church 
by  the  same  convention  that  organized  it  In  the 


RELIGION  AND  THE   NEGKO.  467 

year  1787  Mr.  Allen  had  been  made  the  leader  of  a 
class  of  forty  persons  of  his  own  color.  A  few  years 
later  he  purchased  a  lot  at  the  corner  of  Sixth  and 
Lombard  streets,  Philadelphia,  where  the  first  church 
erected  in  this  country  for  colored  Methodists  was  occu- 
pied in  1794.  This  site  is  now  covered  by  an  edifice 
dedicated  in  1890,  valued  at  $50,000. 

In  doctrine,  government  and  usage,  the  church  does 
not  essentially  differ  from  the  body  from  which  it 
sprang.  It  has  an  itinerant  and  a  local  or  non-itinerant 
ministry,  and  its  territory  is  divided  into  annual  con- 
ferences. It  has  a  general  conference,  meeting  once 
every  four  years ;  bishops  or  itinerant  general  super- 
intendents, elected  for  life,  who  visit  the  annual 
conferences  in  the  episcopal  districts  to  which  they  are 
assigned,  and  presiding  elders,  who  exercise  sub- 
episcopal  oversight  in  the  districts  into  which  the 
annual  conferences  are  divided,  and  it  has  the  proba- 
tionary system  for  new  members,  with  exhorters,  class 
leaders,  stewards,  stewardesses,  etc. 

There  are  in  the  United  States,  2,481  organizations; 
4,124  edifices,  with  church  property  valued  at  $6,468,- 
280,  and  452,725  communicants  or  members. 

The  church  is  widely  distributed,  having  congrega- 
tions in  forty-one  states  and  territories.  The  states 
in  which  it  is  not  represented  are  the  two  Dakotas, 
Idaho,  Maine,  Nevada,  New  Hampshire  and  Vermont, 
the  territories  being  Alaska,  Oklahoma,  and  Arizona. 
Its  members  are  most  numerous  in  South  Carolina, 
where  there  are  88,172.  Georgia  comes  second  with 
73,248;  Alabama  third,  with  30,781;  Arkansas  fourth, 
with  27,956;  Mississippi  fifth,  with  25,439;  Tennessee 
has  23,718;  Texas  23,392,  and  Florida  22,463.  In  no 
other  state  does  the  number  reach  17,000.  The  eight 


468  PROGRESS   OF  A   RACE. 

Southern  states  above  given  report  315,169  members, 
or  considerably  more  than  two-thirds  of  the  entire 
membership  of  the  church. 

African  Union  Methodist  Protestant.— This  body, 
which  has  a  few  congregations  divided  among  eight 
states,  came  into  existence  at  about  the  same  time  the 
African  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  was  organized 
(1816),  differing  from  the  latter  chiefly  in  objections 
to  the  itineracy,  to  a  paid  ministry,  and  to  the  episco- 
pacy. It  has  two  annual  conferences,  with  40  organi- 
zations, 27  church  edifices,  church  property  valued  at 
§55,440,  and  3,415  communicants. 

African  Methodist  Episcopal  Zion. — A  congregation 
of  colored  people,  organized  in  New  York  city,  in  1796, 
was  the  nucleus  of  the  African  Methodist  Episcopal 
Zion  Church.  This  congregation  originated  in  a 
desire  of  colored  members  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  to  hold  separate  meetings,  in  which  they 
"might  have  an  opportunity  to  exercise  their  spiritual 
gifts  among  themselves,  and  thereby  be  more  useful 
to  one  another."  They  built  a  church,  which  was 
dedicated  in  1800,  the  full  name  of  the  denomination 
subsequently  organized  being  given  to  it.  The  church 
entered  into  an  agreement  in  1801,  by  which  it  was  to 
receive  certain  pastoral  supervision  from  the  Meth- 
odist Episcopal  Church.  It  had  preachers  of  its  own 
who  supplied  its  pulpits  in  part.  In  1820  this  arrange- 
ment terminated,  and  in  the  same  year  a  union  of 
colored  churches  in  New  York,  New  Haven,  Long 
Island,  and  Philadelphia  was  formed  and  rules  of  gov- 
ernment adopted.  Thus  was  the  African  Methodist 
Episcopal  Zion  Church  formally  organized. 

The  first  annual  conference  was  held  in  1821.  It 
was  attended  by  nineteen  preachers,  representing  six 


RELIGION  AND   THE   NEGRO.  469 

churches  and  1,426  members.  Next  year,  James 
Yarick  was  chosen  superintendent  of  the  denomina- 
tion, which  was  extended  over  the  states  of  the  North, 
chiefly,  until  the  close  of  the  civil  war,  when  it  entered 
the  South  to  organize  many  churches. 

In  its  policy,  lay  representation  has  long"  been  a 
prominent  feature.  Laymen  are  in  its  annual  confer- 
ences as  well  as  in  its  general  conferences,  and  there 
is  no  bar  to  the  ordination  of  women.  Until  1880  its 
superintendents,  or  bishops,  were  elected  for  a  term  of 
four  years.  In  that  year  the  term  of  the  office  was 
made  for  life  or  during  a  good  behavior.  Its  system 
is  almost  identical  with  that  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  except  the  presence  of  laymen  in  the  annual 
conference,  the  election  of  presiding  elders  on  the  nom- 
ination of  the  presiding  bishop,  instead  of  their 
appointment  by  the  bishop  alone,  and  other  small 
divergences. 

Its  general  conference  meets  quadrennially.  Its 
territory  is  divided  into  seven  Episcopal  districts,  to 
each  of  which  a  bishop  is  assigned  by  the  general  con- 
ference. 

The  church  is  represented  in  twenty-eight  states 
and  the  District  of  Columbia.  It  is  strongest  in  North 
Carolina,  where  it  has  111,949  communicants.  Ala- 
bama comes  next  with  79,231  communicants;  South 
Carolina  third,  with  45,880,  and  Florida  fourth,  with 
14,791.  There  are  in  all  1,704  organizations;  1,587 
church  edifices;  church  property  valued  at  $2,714,128, 
and  349,788  communicants. 

Colored  Methodist  Episcopal,— The  Colored  Meth- 
odist Episcopal  Church  was  organized  in  1870,  of 
colored  members  and  ministers  of  the  M.  E.  Church, 
South.  Before  the  war  this  church  did  a  large  evan- 


FIRST  CONGREGATIONAL  CHURCH,  ATLANTA,  GEORGIA. 


470 


RELIGION  AND  THE  NEGRO.  471 

gelistic  work  among  the  Negroes.  Many  of  the  Negro 
slaves  received  the  gospel  from  the  same  preachers 
and  in  the  same  churches  as  their  masters,  the  galleries 
or  a  portion  of  the  house  being  assigned  to  them.  For 
those  who  were  not  privileged  to  attend  organized 
churches,  special  missions  were  begun  as  early  as  1829. 
In  1845  there  were  124,000  members  of  the  slave  pop- 
ulation, and  in  1860  207,000  members.  In  1866,  after 
the  opening  of  the  South  to  Northern  churches  had 
given  the  Negro  members  opportunity  to  join  the  A. 
M.  E.  Church,  the  A.  M.  E.  Zion  and  other  Methodist 
bodies,  it  was  found  that  there  were  only  78,000  mem- 
bers left.  The  General  Conference  of  1866  authorized 
these  colored  members  to  be  organized  into  separate 
conferences,  and  in  1870  two  bishops  were  appointed 
to  organize  the  colored  conferences  into  a  separate  and 
independent  church.  This  church  has  the  same  articles 
of  religion,  the  same  form  of  government,  and  the 
same  discipline  as  its  parent  body.  Its  bishops  are 
elected  for  life. 

Bishop  Holsey  declares  that  the  great  aim  of  the 
church  is  to  evangelize  the  Negro,  and  to  educate  and 
elevate  him.  There  are  23  annual  conferences,  129,383 
members.  There  are  1,750  organizations,  with  1,653 
church  edifices.  Valuation  of  property,  $1,713,366. 
This  church  is  strongest  in  Georgia,  where  it  has  more 
than  22,000  members,  Mississippi  comes  next  with 
20,000,  Tennessee  third,  with  18,968,  and  Alabama 
fourth,  with  18,940. 

Congregational  Methodists  (Colored).— This  body 
consists  of  congregations  of  colored  members  organ- 
ized into  conferences  by  presidents  of  the  Congrega- 
tional Methodist  Church,  to  which  it  corresponds  in  all 
particulars  of  doctrine,  polity  and  usage.  The  only 


472  PROGRESS   OF  A   RACE. 

difference  in  the  churches  of  the  two  bodies  is  that 
they  are  composed  of  white  and  colored  persons, 
respectively.  There  are  in  all  nine  organizations  and 
319  communicants. 

Cumberland  Presbyterian  (Colored). — This  body 
was  organized  in  May,  1869,  at  Murfreesboro,  Ten- 
nessee, under  the  direction  of  the  General  Assembly 
of  the  Cumberland  Presbyterian  Church.  It  was  con- 
stituted of  colored  ministers  and  members  who  had 
been  connected  with  that  church.  Its  first  synod,  the 
Tennessee,  was  organized  in  1871,  and  its  general 
assembly  in  1874.  It  has  the  same  doctrinal  symbol 
as  the  parent  body,  and  the  same  system  of  govern- 
ment and  discipline,  differing  only  in  race.  It  has 
twenty-three  presbyteries,  and  is  represented  in  nine 
states  and  one  territory.  It  has  224  organizations, 
183  church  edifices,  12,956  communicants  and  church 
property  valued  at  $195,826. 

It  has  8 1  organizations,  72  church  edifices,  with  an 
approximate  seating  capacity  of  24,125  ;  7  halls  with  a 
seating  capacity  of  825  ;  its  church  property  is  valued  at 
$88,660,  with  2,202  communicants  or  members. 

Sunday  School  Union  of  the  A.  M.  E.  Church.— Of 
all  the  public  institutions  owned  and  controlled  by 
Afro-Americans,  the  Sunday  School  Union  of  the 
African  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  deserves  special 
mention.  From  a  purely  business  standpoint,  it  has 
been  a  decided  success. 

Organized  August  u,  1882,  it  has  just  completed 
the  first  fifteen  years  of  its  existence.  What  as  to 
results?  It  is  the  first  colored  religious  denomination 
to  adopt  "Children's  Day"  as  an  anniversary  of  annual 
observance,  and  to  apply  the  collections  received  there- 
from to  the  extension  of  Sunday  school  work.  It  is 


RELIGION   AND  THE  NEGRO. 


473 


the  first  colored  religious  organization  in  the  world  to 

purchase  and  possess 
real  estate  paid  for 
by  moneys  raised  ex- 
clusively by  Sunday 
school 
is  the 


children.     It 
first   colored 
^  religious    denomina- 
tion to  issue  a  series 
o  f     graded    Sunday 
":  school  helps,  such  as 
quarterlies,  and  les- 
son papers.     It  is  the 
first  colored  religious 
denomination     to 
print    and    publish 
with  the    aid   of   its 
own  machinery  and 
material    Sunday 
x-  school  literature  and 
requisites. 

From  the  returns 
of  Children's  Day,  it 
has  received  $56,- 
969.57,  while  the 
'/  receipts  to  business 
aggregate  $158,658. 

It  has  donated  to 
needy     Sunday 
schools,   in   the  way 
of  books  and  periodi- 
cals, $5,057.98. 

It  owns  a  solid  stone  front,  brick  building,  situated 
on  the  public  square,  in  Nashville,  Tennessee,  which 


474  PROGRESS  OF  A  RACE. 

is  of  inestimable  value  to  the  A.  M.  E.  Church,  and 
would  not  be  parted  with  for  any  sum  less  than  $25,000. 
It  is  five  stories  high,  including  the  basement. 

Its  periodicals  have  a  circulation  in  almost  every 
state  and  territory  in  the  West  Indies  and  West  and 
South  Africa. 

Its  property  and  business  is  easily  worth  $40,000, 
and  is  free  and  unencumbered,  except  a  current  debt 
of  §1,500,  which  is  partially  offset  by  a  cash  balance. 

It  has  never  assumed  the  attitude  of  a  public  beggar, 
nor  asked  a  white  person  for  a  single  penny.  Its 
support  from  all  source's  has  come  absolutely  and 
exclusively  from  colored  people. 

Its  founder,  Charles  Spencer  Smith,  has  been  its 
secretary  and  treasurer  from  its  organization  to  the 
present. 

Items. — Hon.  Frederick  Douglass,  in  his  early  life, 
was  a  local  preacher  in  the  A.  M.  E.  Zion  Church. 

The  first  A.  M.  E.  Zion  church  established  south  of 
the  Mason  and  Dixon  line,  was  St.  Peter's  at  New- 
berne,  North  Carolina,  in  1862. 

The  American  Baptist  Home  Missionary  Society 
has  expended  in  Georgia  for  educational  work  among 
the  200,000  Negroes  there,  more  than  $500,000.  Two 
of  the  most  important  schools — Spelman  Seminary 
and  the  Baptist  College — are  located  at  Atlanta. 

The  colored  Baptists  of  the  United  States  report  a 
membership  of  1,348,000,  with  11,000  ordained  minis- 
ters; 13,000  church  buildings,  valued  at  $10,000,000, 
and  9,000  Sunday  schools,  with  more  than  500,000 
scholars. 

Rev.  Lott  Carey  was  born  in  Virginia  in  1780,  and 
died  November  10,  1828,  in  Liberia.  He  was  the  first 
colored  American  missionary  to  Africa. 


RELIGION   AND   THE    NEGRO.  475 

Fully  nine-tenths  of  the  colored  church  members 
are  Methodists  and  Baptists,  and  between  these  two 
they  are  pretty  equally  divided. 

The  oldest  colored  church  in  the  South  is  Evans' 
Chapel,  Fayetteville,  North  Carolina  (A.  M.  E.  Zion). 

Remember,  Christian  Negroes  black  as  Cain  may 
be  refined  and  join  the  angelic  train. — Phillis  Wheatley. 

Negroes  are  more  religious  than  white  folks.  They 
are  more  emotional.  Emotion  is  not  a  virtue,  for  some 
emotionalists  are  sadly  wanting  in  all  the  virtues. 

The  amount  of  knowledge  a  man  has  does  not 
secure  his  usefulness  if  he  has  so  taken  it  in  that  rfe  is 
lop-sided. — Ely  den. 

If  a  man  wants  to  know  his  own  strength,  he  need 
not  measure  himself.  He  needs  only  to  size  up  the 
fellows  who  are  pulling  against  him  to  find  out  how 
strong  he  is. — Bishop  Grant. 

Rev.  E.  0.  Morris,  D.  D.,  born  May  7,  1855,  was  a 
native  of  Murray  county,  Georgia.  He  and  his 
parents  were  slaves  until  liberated  by  the  Emancipa- 
tion Proclamation  of  " Father  Abraham." 

His  early  educational  advantages  were  limited  to 
the  common  school,  but  as  he  was  a  careful  student 
and  a  close  observer,  his  knowledge  of  men  and  cur- 
rent events  made  him  a  practical  business  man  and  a 
wise  adviser. 

In  1879  he  took  the  pastorate  of  the  Centennial  Bap- 
tist church  of  Helena,  Arkansas,  which  position  he  has 
held  continuously  to  the  present  time.  His  ability  is 
also  recognized  as  an  organizer  in  educational,  mis- 
sionary and  literary  interests.  He  established,  and  for 
two  years  edited  the  first  religious  paper  published  by 
his  race  in  the  state  of  Arkansas.  In  1884,  he  organ- 
ized the  Arkansas  Baptist  College,  and  for  sixteen 


476  PROGRESS   OF   A    RACE. 

years  has  been  chairman  of  its  board  of  trustees.  For 
nineteen  years  he  has  been  president  of  the  Baptist 
state  convention.  Since  1894  he  has  been  president  of 


REV.  E.  C.   MORRIS,   D.   D. 

the  National  Baptist  convention,  the  largest  delibera- 
tive body  of  negroes  in  the  world.  It  was  bis  active 
brain  that  conceived  the  idea  of  the  National  Baptist 


RELIGION    AND    THE    NEGRO. 


477 


Young  People's  Union  Board.  In  addition  to  his 
other  duties,  that  of  editor-in-chief  of  the  "Conven- 
tion Teacher"  was  undertaken  by  his  energetic  hand. 


REV.    M.   W.    D.   NORMAN,   D.    D. 

Rev.  M.  W.  D.  Norman,  D.  D.— Rev.  Moses  W.  D. 
Norman  of  North  Carolina  was  educated  at  Plymouth 
Normal  School  and  Shaw  University.  In  the  fall  of 
1893  he  was  appointed  Professor  of  Theology  in  Shaw 


478 


PROGRESS    OF    A    RACE. 


University.      This   position   he    resigned  in   1896  to 
accept  the  presidency  of  Roanoke  Institute. 


MRS.   MARY  RICE  PHELPS,    AUGUSTA,   GA. 
See  sketch  page  608. 

Provident  Hospital. — This  institution,  located  at 
Chicago,  was  founded  in  1891,  and  incorporated 
through  the  united  efforts  of  a  few  earnest  men.  With 
the  exception  of  Freedman's  Hospital  at  Washington, 
it  is  the  only  institution  engaged  in  special  work  in 
behalf  of  the  colored  people.  It  is  unique  in  its 


RELIGION  AND  THE   NEGRO.  479 

character,  and  those  for  whom  its  benefits  are  more 
specially  intended  are  grateful  for  and  appreciative  of 
its  advantages. 

Training  School  for  Nurses. — In  it  is  established  a 
school  in  which  young  colored  women  are  fitted  for 
nurses,  and  thus  a  new  field  for  their  independence  has 
been  developed.  A  course  of  two  years  has  been  laid 
out,  and  already  three  classes  have  graduated. 
In  addition  to  the  regular  hospital  duties,  visiting 
nurses  are  sent  out  among  the  poor  and  sick  colored 
people,  with  most  gratifying  results. 

Receipts. — The  fifth  annual  report  of  the  board  of 
trustees  gives  as  the  total  receipts  nearly  $30,000,  of 
which  more  than  $11,000  were  voluntarily  contributed 
by  patients  themselves,  and  the  remainder  by  friends 
of  the  institution. 

Patients. — The  number  of  colored  patients  in  the 
hospital  for  the  first  five  years  was  655. 

Gratitude. — Words  cannot  express  the  gratitude  of 
the  colored  people  in  the  establishment  of  this  home 
which  has  brought  new  and  liberal  facilities  to  the 
needy  of  the  colored  race. 

Rev.  Thos.  H.  B.  Walker  was  born  in  Tallahassee, 
Florida,  in  1873.  Like  most  colored  boys  of  the 
South,  he  began  life  at  the  very  bottom;  but  by  his 
intelligence  and  perseverance,  he  has  placed  himself 
among  the  leaders  of  his  race  in  the  "black  belt"  of 
the  South.  Without  money  or  special  friends  he 
worked  his  way  through  Cookman  Institute,  Jackson- 
ville, Florida. 

He  was  pastor  of  a  church  at  the  age  of  nineteen. 
In  1897  he  was  elected  editor  of  The  Sabbath  School 
Banner.  The  same  year  he  organized  the  St.  Joseph  Aid 
Society,  whose  membership  is  now  found  in  all  parts 
of  the  South. 


480 


PROGRESS    OF    A    RACE. 


REV.    TIIOS.    H.    B.    WALKER. 


Hale  Infirmary. — In  Montgomery,  Alabama,  in  the 
eastern  part  of  the  city,  near  Hall  street,  is  a  large 
eigh teen-room  building  with  this  inscription  on  the 
corner-stone:  "Infirmary,  given  by  James  Hale,  for 
the  benefit  of  his  race,  and  erected  by  his  wife,  as  a 
memorial  to  their  deceased  daughter  and  son,  Sarah 
and  James." 

It  was  the  desire  of  James  Hale  to  do  something  to 
help  the  poor  and  aged  of  his  people,  but  before  he 
was  able  to  carry  out  his  plans,  he  was  called  away  to 
''that  home  over  there,"  in  the  heavenly  city  of  rest. 
He  told  his  wife,  however,  to  carry  out  his  wishes; 


RELIGION  AND  THE  NfcGfcO. 

and,  faithful  to  her  promise  to  her  dying  husband,  this 
good  woman  did  not  cease  work  until  the  desires  of  her 
husband  were  fulfilled.  And  indeed,  although  the  in- 
firmary is  in  full  operation  today,  she  has  not  stopped 
work,  but  is  going  about  among  the  poor,  the  aged 
and  the  homeless,  doing  all  she  can  to  lighten  their 
burdens  of  life.  Those  who  are  sick,  those  who 
are  alone,  those  who  have  no  homes,  and  those  who 
have  fallen  among  thieves,  she  is  lifting  them  up, 
building  up  their  wounds  and  taking  them  to  her  inn, 
the  Hale  Infirmary.  "  The  property  as  it  stands  today 
is  worth  $7,000,  and,  knowing  the  needs  of  my  people 
as  I  do,  I  can  say  for  a  truth,  James  Hale  could  not 
have  left  his  money  to  a  better  cause.  Our  people 
have  been  buying  church  property  and  building 
churches  and  preparing  to  live  in  heaven,  for  more 
than  a  generation.  To  this  I  have  no  objection,  but 
I  think  the  time  is  near  at  hand  when  we  should  begin 
to  mix  a  little  business  with  our  religion,  and  while 
building  our  churches,  let  us  also  build  homes  for  our- 
selves, homes  for  the  orphans,  the  poor  and  the  aged 
of  our  race,  and  also  infirmaries  and  hospitals  where 
the  lame,  sick  and  the  injured  can  be  cared  for." 

Mrs.  Watts'  Orphanage. — At  Covington,  Georgia, 
is  located  an  institution  which  is  doing  much  good  for 
the  state  and  for  our  people.  There,  in  that  quiet 
little  city,  is  an  orphanage  and  industrial  school  under 
the  management  of  Mrs.  D.  Pace  Watts.  That  good 
woman  is  toiling  on  with  her  work,  spending  her  earn- 
ings and  her  life,  all  for  the  good  she  may  do  for  the 
poor  and  parentless  of  her  race,  and  is  building  up  the 
kingdom  of  God  among  them,  and,  in  her  way,  as  best 
she  can,  is  teaching  them  how  to  make  honest  and 
honorable  citizens, 

II  Progress, 


482  PROGRESS  OF  A  RACE. 

How  sweet  must  be  the  lives  of  those  who  pass  be- 
yond the  whirlpool  of  society  and  lose  themselves  in 
the  midst  of  spiritual  work  among  the  poor,  the  friend- 
less, the  motherless  and  the  fatherless  of  the  communi- 
ties in  which  they  live.  There  they  work  and  pray  to 
make  the  world  better,  often  without  pay,  without 
thanks,  and  without  encouragement,  but  they  labor  on 
with  the  belief  that  some  day,  and  somewhere,  they 
will  be  rewarded. 

Such  has  been  the  life  work  of  Mrs.  Diana  Pace 
Watts.  She  has  toiled  with  her  work  at  Covington 
almost  single-handed,  and  has  overcome  many  obsta- 
cles. The  extent  of  her  work  cannot  be  told  in  such 
a  short  article ;  suffice  it  to  say,  however,  she  is  doing 
much  good  for  her  race  and  the  state,  and  deserves 
the  co-operation  and  support  of  all  who  are  interested 
in  Christian  work  among  the  lowly. 

To  Rescue  Colored  People.— The  Rev.  George  W. 
Dickey,  pastor  of  the  Burning  Bush  Mission,  Chicago, 
Illinois,  recently  purchased  the  three-story  brick  build- 
ing at  2838  Dearborn  street,  for  the  purpose  of  con- 
verting it  into  a  home  for  homeless  and  unfortunate 
women.  It  will  be  called  a  Rescue  and  Industrial 
institute.  The  plan  has  been  under  consideration  for 
some  time,  and  recently  a  few  wealthy  Baptists  took 
hold  of  the  matter,  with  the  Rev.  Mr.  Dickey,  and  the 
result  is  that  the  home  will  be  opened  as  soon  as  the 
alterations  can  be  made  in  the  two  upper  floors. 

The  property  cost  $10,500,  and  is  a  three-story  brick 
building,  25x98  feet,  on  a  lot  no  feet  deep.  There 
will  be  sleeping  apartments  on  the  top  floor,  and  on 
the  second  floor  the  women  will  be  taught  sewing, 
housekeeping,  cooking,  stenography,  and  typewriting, 
and  whatever  else  will  enable  them  to  be  self-support- 


CHARITABLE   INSTITUTIONS. 


483 


ing1.  The  plan  of  Rev.  Dickey  is  one  of  several  to 
give  practical  aid  to  the  unemployed  among  the  col- 
ored people.  The  Rev.  Dickey,  in  speaking  of  his 
work,  says: 

"We  need  to  do  something  for  our  young  women. 


AMANDA   SMITH. 


They  come  to  Chicago  in  large  numbers  from  the  South 
every  year,  and  drift  about  in  this  great  city  without 
any  guidance  or  friends.  In  a  short  while  they  go  to 
the  dogs.  It  is  the  one  reason  why  one  can  go  into 


484  PROGRESS   OF    A   RACE. 

the  various  stations  of  the  city  and  see  such  a  large 
percentage  of  colored  criminals.  I  think  it  is  about 
time  for  the  Christian  people  to  bestir  themselves  and 
do  something  practical  in  the  way  of  giving  protection 
and  kindly  assistance  to  unemployed  colored  men  and 
women.  Our  home  is  established  for  this  purpose. 
And,  while  we  are  colored  people,  I  can  assure  you 
that  we  will  not  close  our  doors  against  the  needy  of 
any  race  or  color. ' ' 

Amanda  Smith  Industrial  Orphan  Home  for  Col- 
ored Children. — Amanda  Smith,  who  has  labored 
much  for  the  elevation  of  her  people,  was  greatly  im- 
pressed with  the  need  of  an  orphan  home  for  colored 
children,  and  in  1895  secured  possession  of  a  property 
in  North  Harvey,  Chicago,  Illinois,  worth  $6,000. 
Through  the  sale  of  her  book,  evangelistic  work  and 
donations,  she  has  already  secured  considerable 
toward  the  payment  for  the  building.  She  is  putting 
all  her  time  and  strength  into  collecting  funds  so  that 
the  Home  may  be  free  of  debt.  While  she  is  spend- 
ing her  time  in  the  evangelistic  field,  and  in  collecting 
for  the  orphanage,  her  permanent  address  is  2940  South 
Park  avenue,  Chicago,  Illinois. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  this  institution  will  be  a 
great  blessing  to  the  colored  people  of  Chicago  and  the 
North  when  it  is  once  fully  established. 

Other  Institutions. — The  presence  of  the  orphanage 
at  Covington,  the  Carrie  Steele  Orphans'  Home,  and 
the  Carter  Home  for  old  people  and  boys,  in  Atlanta, 
the  Old  Folks'  Home  at  Norfolk,  Virginia,  the  Old 
Folks'  Home  at  Philadelphia,  the  Orphans'  Home  at 
St.  Louis,  and  the  Home  for  Working  Girls  at  Wash- 
ington, D.  C.,  are  only  some  of  the  evidences  which 
show  to  what  extent  and  with  what  earnestness  the 
women  of  our  race  have  entered  upon  the  work. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

NOTED      PERSONAGES      OF      THE    AFRO-AMERICAN      RACE. 
FORERUNNERS    OF    LIBERTY. 

Frederick  Douglass,  the  most  remarkable  man  of 
Negro  blood  yet  produced  in  the  United  States  was 
born  in  Talbot  county,  Maryland,  in  February,  1817, 
and  had  just  completed  his  seventy-eighth  year,  at  the 
time  of  his  death.  He  was  the  mulatto  son  of  a  slave 
mother,  and  consequently  himself  born  a  slave.  At  a 
very  early  age  he  went  to  Baltimore  to  live,  where  he  ac- 
quired a  rudimentary  education.  His  owner  allowed  him 
to  employ  his  own  time  at  three  dollars  per  week,  and  he 
obtained  work  in  a  shipyard.  When  just  twenty-one 
years  old  he  ran  away  to  New  York,  and  from  there  went 
to  New  Bedford,  Massachusetts,  where  he  supported 
himself  as  a  laborer.  He  came,  by  some  means,  under 
the  observation  of  William  Lloyd  Garrison,  who  assisted 
his  efforts  at  self-education,  and  under  Garrison's  aus- 
pices he  was  brought  out  as  an  orator  at  abolition  meet- 
ings in  New  England.  In  1841  he  attended  an  anti- 
slavery  meeting  at  Nantucket,  and  made  a  speech  that 
brought  him  into  national  notice.  After  this,  as  agent 
of  the  Massachusetts  Anti-Slavery  Society,  he  traveled 
through  the  Northern  states  making  abolition  speeches. 
Anti-slavery  agitation  was  a  sensitive  and  exciting 
theme  at  that  period  of  the  country's  history,  and  the 
bold  utterances  of  the  colored  orator,  the  first  person 
of  his  race  to  display  such  capability,  made  him  a  very 
much  discussed  person.  He  afterward  edited  The 
North  Star,  an  abolition  paper,  at  Rochester,  New 
York,  and  published  one  or  two  books  giving  his 

495 


HON.  FREDERICK  DOUGLASS. 
48$ 


PERSONAGES  OF  THE   AFRO-AMERICAN    RACE.         487 

experience  as  a  slave,  and  intended  to  promote  the 
then  fast  growing  abolition  sentiment. 

The  Maryland  family  to  whom  Douglass  had  always 
belonged  as  a  slave  were  named  Lloyds,  but  after 
going  North  he  adopted  for  himself  the  name  he  has 
since  borne.  When  he  had  become  distinguished  his 
friends  in  England  raised  a  purse  of  $750  with  which 
his  freedom  was  legally  purchased. 

He  visited  England  in  1845,  and  made  many  speeches 
there  that  were  well  received.  He  was  charged  with 
conspiracy  in  the  John  Brown  raids  into  Virginia  in 
1859,  and  Governor  Wise  made  a  requisition  for  his 
arrest  on  the  governor  of  Michigan.  Legal  complica- 
tions were  avoided  by  a  second  visit  to  England.  Of 
this  visit  Douglass  later  beautifully  said:  "I  fled  from 
the  talons  of  the  American  eagle  to  nestle  in  the  mane 
of  the  British  lion. ' '  When  the  Civil  War  broke  out  he 
urged  emancipation  and  the  employment  of  the  Negro 
troops.  Late"r  he  was  active  in  organizing  Negro  regi- 
ments in  the  North.  After  the  war  he  held  various 
offices  under  Republican  administration.  Mr.  Cleveland 
removed  him  from  his  office  of  Recorder  of  Deeds  of 
the  District  of  Columbia  in  1886,  and  three  years  later 
Mr.  Harrison  made  him  minister  to  Hayti,  the  last 
official  position  that  he  filled.  The  Haytian  govern- 
ment made  him  one  of  the  commissioners  for  its  exhibit 
at  the  Columbian  Exposition  at  Chicago. 

In  early  life,  while  residing  at  New  Bedford,  Mas- 
sachusetts, Douglass  was  married  to  a  woman  of  his 
own  color,  by  whom  he  had  two  sons  and  a  daughter, 
who  survive  him.  A  few  years  ago  he  was  married  to 
Helen  Pitts,  a  white  woman  from  New  England,  who 
was  employed  as  clerk  in  the  office  when  he  was 
Recorder  of  Deeds.  In  appearance,  Douglass'  Cau- 


488  PROGRESS   OF  A   RACK. 

casian  blood  was  very  manifest.  He  was  of  bright  com- 
plexion, with  prominent,  clearly  defined  features,  and 
hair  only  slightly  curly.  In  old  age  he  wore  his  hair 
and  beard  long,  which  gave  him  an  air  at  once  striking 
and  venerable.  His  oratorical  gift  was  of  no  ordinary 
quality,  and  no  man  in  American  public  life  was  a 
greater  factor  in  that  agitation  which  led  up  to  the 
events  of  1860-65,  and  created  such  a  revolution  in  the 
country's  condition.  He  leaves  a  fortune,  the  accu- 
mulation of  savings  during  a  long  life,  estimated  by 
some  as  high  as  $200,000. 

William  Lloyd  Garrison  relates  the  following  story  of 
Douglass  and  Sojourner  Truth,  a  character  as  remark- 
able in  her  way  as  Douglass  was  in  his.  She  was  a 
thorough  African  of  unmixed  blood,  gaunt  and  black. 
She  was  born  a  slave  in  New  York,  and  emancipated 
when  slavery  was  abolished  in  that  state.  She  could 
neither  read  nor  write,  whereas  Douglass  had  educated 
himself  and  was  the  peer  of  any  so-calied  self-educated 
white  man.  At  an  anti-slavery  meeting,  when  the 
aspect  of  affairs  was  particularly  dark,  Douglass  was 
speaking  and  indulging  in  gloomy  views  of  the  situa- 
tion. Sojourner,  who  was  a  listener,  and  was  pos- 
sessed with  an  intense  religious  faith,  was  disturbed 
at  the  tone  of  his  despondency,  and  in  a  moment 
relieved  her  feelings  and  those  of  the  meeting  as  well, 
by  saying  in  her  deep  voice:  "Is  God  dead,  Fred- 
erick?" Nobody  could  appreciate  the  hit  better  than 
himself,  and  the  closing  remarks  were  in  a  more  hope- 
ful strain. 

Hon.  Josiah  T.  Settle,  of  Memphis,  says:  "On  one 
occasion,  some  time  before  emancipation,  he  attended 
the  Fourth  of  July  celebration,  I  think,  at  Rochester; 
he  was  then  a  man  of  international  fame,  and  was 


PERSONAGES  OF  THE  AFRO-AMERICAN  RACE.  489 

called  upon  to  speak  I  have  not  seen  the  speech  in 
print  for  more  than  thirty  years,  but  as  I  read  it  then 
and  remember  it  now,  taken  in  connection  with  the 
times  and  circumstances  under  which  it  was  made,  the 
man  and  the  occasion,  nothing  could  have  been  more 
truly  eloquent.  When  he  arose  and  looked  over  his 
audience,  among"  other  things  he  said:  'Why  am  I 
called  upon  to  speak  on  an  occasion  such  as  this? 
Why  should  I  celebrate  your  Fourth  of  July?  What 
freedom  have  I  and  my  people  to  celebrate?  Above 
your  shouts  and  the  roar  of  your  cannon  I  can  hear 
the  crack  of  the  slave  whip,  the  clanking  of  the  chains, 
and  the  groans  of  my  oppressed  brethren  in  the  South. 
Your  rejoicings  do  but  fill  to  overflowing  my  cup  of  bit- 
terness. You  were  willing  to  bare  your  breasts  to  cannon 
to  evade  a  tax  on  tea,  but  you  turn  a  deaf  ear  to  three 
millions  of  human  beings,  made  in  the  image  of  God, 
who  are  vainly  pleading  to  you  in  chains  that  they  may 
own  their  own  bodies,  and  that  they  may  be  protected 
in  the  commonest  ties  of  husband  and  wife,  parent  and 
child.  While  you  celebrate  the  anniversary  of  your 
independence,  you  have  coiled  up  in  the  youthful 
bosom  of  your  republic  the  serpent  of  slavery,  sucking 
her  life's  blood,  and  sending  its  poison  into  every  mem- 
ber of  her  body.  Your  Declaration  of  Independence 
is  a  lie !  And  your  flag  contaminates  the  very  air  of 
God.  Every  stripe  upon  it  represents  the  blood  and 
bondage  of  my  people,  and  every  star  glitters  to  your 
country's  shame.'  " 

From  a  memorial  address  in  "Talks  for  the  Times," 
we  take  the  following;  "If  I  were  asked  to  sum  up  in 
a  word  what  made  Frederick  Douglass  great,  I  should 
say  a  noble  purpose,  fixed  and  unchangeable,  a  pur- 
pose to  render  to  mankind  the  largest  possible  service, 


490  PROGRESS  OF  A   RACE. 

Verily,  he  nas  served  us  well,  faithfully,  unselfishly, 
and  now,  full  of  years,  and  full  of  honors,  loaded  with 
such  distinctions  as  this  poor  world  has  to  give,  he 
dies,  dies  as  he  lived,  a  brave,  strong,  good  man.  No 
more  shall  we  behold  that  manly  form.  No  more 
shall  we  listen  to  those  eloquent  lips  upon  which,  for 
over  fifty  years,  so  many  thousands  have  hung  with 
rapture,  those  eloquent  lips  that  made  his  name 
famous  in  two  hemispheres,  and  will  surely  keep  it 
so  as  long  as  freedom  has  a  history.  God  grant  that 
the  mantle  of  this  old  hero  may  fall  upon  a  worthy 
successor !  God  grant  that  our  young  men,  contemplat- 
ing his  life  and  emulating  his  example,  may  be  lifted 
up  to  a  higher  conception  of  life,  of  duty,  of  responsi- 
bility, of  usefulness ! ' ' 

William  Still.— We  abridge  the  following  from  the 
4  *  Life  of  William  Still,  "as  it  is  given  in  the  revised 
edition  of  the  "Underground  Railroad": 

His  parents,  Levin  and  Sidney,  were  both  slaves 
on  the  eastern  shore  of  Maryland.  "Massa,  I'd  sooner 
die  than  stay  a  slave!"  was  the  declaration  of  his 
father  to  his  young  master  before  either  was  twenty- 
one  years  of  age.  The  master  saw  that  it  would  be 
impossible  to  change  this  determination  of  the  slave, 
and  felt  that  it  would  be  policy  under  the  circum- 
stances to  drive  the  best  bargain  he  could.  He  decided 
to  sell  him  to  himself,  or  in  other  words,  give  him 
the  chance  of  buying  his  freedom.  The  price  was 
named  and  accepted  by  the  slave.  His  former  dili- 
gence was  now  doubly  taxed  to  complete  the  hard  task 
of  working  out  his  freedom.  At  last,  by  dint  of  perse- 
verance and  economy  he  succeeded.  Being  free,  he 
could  not  breathe  the  air  tainted  by  slavery,  hence, 
severing  the  sacred  ties  of  family,  bidding  good-bye 


PERSONAGES  OF  THE  AFRO-AMERICAN  RACE.  491 

to  his  wife  and  four  children  (two  boys  and  two  girls), 
and  trusting  God  for  the  future,  he  started  northward 
and  located  near  Greenwich,  New  Jersey.  The  wife 
felt  more  keenly  than  ever  the  yoke  of  bondage ;  she, 
too,  resolved  to  break  it,  but  not  in  the  tedious  way 
her  husband  had  done.  For  the  sake  of  liberty  and  of 
being  reunited  to  her  husband,  she  resolved  to  accept 
the  trials  and  dangers  of  escape,  and  if  not  successful, 
the  death  which  such  an  attempt  often  involved. 
Under  the  influence  of  a  mighty  resolution,  hoping  for 
such  indirect  aid  as  her  husband  could  furnish,  she  set 
out  with  her  four  children  on  her  toilsome  fugitive 
journey.  Then  came  days  of  watching,  waiting  and 
fear  of  detection,  nights  perilous  with  forced  travel, 
times  of  despair  as  swamps  and  forests  interposed, 
rivers  intervened  or  starvation  threatened.  Success 
crowned  her  perils  and  sacrifices.  The  father's  heart 
and  hand  had  been  diligent  in  her  movements,  as  she 
had  anticipated.  The  family  was  joyfully  reunited, 
and  a  home  was  provided  near  Greenwich.  The  old 
name  of  Steele  became  Still.  Every  precaution  was 
taken  to  preserve  the  secret  of  their  past  existence. 
But  the  scent  of  the  slave  hunter  was  not  to  be  baffled 
by  these  precautions.  In  a  few  months,  a  capturing 
gang,  terrible  as  an  army  with  banners,  suddenly 
pounced  upon  the  peaceful  household,  and  the  wife 
and  four  children  were  dragged  back  to  their  old  slave 
quarters  in  Maryland.  Liberty's  draught  once  tasted, 
the  lips  of  the  slave  mother  longed  for  it  again.  Plans 
for  a  second  attempt  were  laid.  None  seemed  feasible 
that  included  her  four  children.  Agonizing  as  was 
the  thought  of  severing  herself  from  her  children,  she 
could  not  overcome  the  dreadful  alternative  by  any 
ingenuity  of  her  own.  At  last,  the  plan  was  laid  out ; 


PROGRESS   OF   A   RACE. 

she  would  leave  her  two  boys  under  the  care  of  her 
dear  mother,  who  was  also  in  bondage.  What  tears 
watered  the  sad  conclusion !  She  would  save  the  girls, 
the  youngest  and  weakest.  The  sorrowful  night  came. 
Nerved  for  the  hour  and  the  painful  occasion,  she 
rushed  to  the  little  straw  bed  on  which  her  four  chil- 
dren were  sleeping,  kissed  her  boys  farewell  without 
waking  them,  clasped  her  two  little  girls  in  her 
strong,  true  arms,  bade  her  mother  good-bye,  and 
trusting  in  God,  began  again  the  perilous  march  to 
freedom.  Not  recounting  the  trials  and  hardships  and 
dangers  overcome,  she  reached  the  free  soil  of  New 
Jersey,  and  rejoined  her  husband  with  her  two  little 
girls.  And  now  greater  precaution  was  necessary, 
hence  a  home  in  the  depths  of  the  Jersey  pines,  seven 
miles  east  of  Medford,  was  chosen.  Guarding  their 
family  history,  working  peaceably  and  industriously, 
dealing  honestly,  walking  reverently,  Levin  Still  was 
permitted  to  escape  the  pursuit  of  the  slave  hunter, 
and  to  enjoy  the  blessings  of  home.  His  acres  became 
his  own ;  thrift  brought  this  reward  to  him.  His  family 
increased  until  it  numbered  eighteen  children  in  all, 
the  youngest  of  whom  was  William  Still,  the  subject 
of  our  sketch  Suffice  it  to  say  of  the  two  sons  in 
slavery,  that  they  were  sold  and  taken  South.  One  of 
them  died  in  slavery,  and  the  other,  Peter  Still, 
returned  to  the  family  forty  years  later.  When  old 
enough,  William  began  to  work  on  the  farm,  the  stock 
of  which  consisted  of  a  horse  and  a  yoke  of  oxen.  The 
cranberry  meadows  near  by  furnished  employment 
for  him  and  his  brothers.  In  the  winter,  the  Still 
family  were  occupied  in  putting  up  eordwood.  In  the 
rich  agricultural  district  west  of  Medford,  he  succeeded 
in  obtaining  work  during  harvest,  always  receiving 


PERSONAGES  OF  THE  AFRO-AMERICAN  RACE.  493 

kind  treatment  and  good  wages.  Whisky  was  served, 
according  to  custom,  to  the  harvest  hands.  One  day, 
William,  exhausted  by  the  heat,  and  his  efforts  to  do 
a  full  hand's  work,  was  induced  to  take  a  drink.  It 
sickened  him  so  that  he  was  forced  to  return  home, 
and  report  a  quarter  of  a  day's  work  lost  labor.  This 
humiliated  him  so  that  he  resolved  never  to  touch  the 
accursed  stuff  again.  If  there  is  anything  in  his  life 
of  which  he  is  proud,  it  is  the  faithful  keeping  of  the 
vow  then  registered. 

William  received  no  schooling  until  he  was  seventeen 
years  of  age,  when  a  teacher  was  secured  who  was 
favorably  inclined  to  the  colored  race.  He  then  drop- 
ped all  work  and  attended  school.  He  subscribed  for 
Tlte  Colored  American,  but  the  postmaster  did  not  con- 
sider it  proper  to  dispense  that  kind  of  literature 
through  the  mails,  and  so  withheld  the  paper  for  a 
number  of  weeks.  At  last  he  was  informed  that  he 
could  have  his  papers  if  he  paid  what  was  due  on  them. 
He  paid  thirty  cents  postage,  and  was  given  a  bundle 
of  papers  which,  when  he  got  home  and  unfolded, 
were  undelivered  numbers  of  other  papers  not  his 
own.  He,  however,  applied  at  once  to  the  postmaster, 
and  carried  his  point.  In  1844,  when  he  was  twenty- 
three  years  old,  he  went  to  Philadelphia  with  only  $3 
in  his  pocket.  Here  he  was  obliged  to  confront  the 
question  of  color.  He  was  not  able  to  secure  steady 
work,  discouragement  and  failure  met  him  on  every 
hand.  After  being  engaged  in  work  for  some  time, 
he  found  that  he  was  not  making  enough  to  pay  his 
modest  board  bill.  During  the  next  summer,  he 
worked  in  a  brick  yard.  Determined  to  provide  for 
the  coming  winter  better  than  he  did  for  the  first  win- 
ter spent  in  Philadelphia,  he  resolved  to  start  a  busi- 


494  PROGRESS    OF   A    RACE. 

ness  of  his  own.  He  engaged  in  the  oyster  business, 
but  a  very  brief  experience  proved  to  him  that  he  was 
not  capable  of  carrying  it  on.  Through  the  pious  rep- 
resentations of  a  rogue  the  money  he  had  on  hand  was 
temporarily  loaned,  and  the  prospective  profit  became 
a  real  loss.  He  then  became  a  second-hand  clothing 
dealer,  but  this  plunged  him  into  bankruptcy.  He 
then  got  a  position  as  a  waiter  in  a  Broad  street  house, 
but  the  surroundings  were  so  disgusting  and  the  work 
so  hard  that  in  three  weeks,  hearing  of  a  vacancy  in 
the  family  of  an  aged  widow  of  great  wealth,  he 
ventured  to  try  for  the  place.  Here  he  was  engaged 
after  a  searching  examination  at  $14  per  month.  By 
faithfulness,  he  soon  won  the  esteem  of  the  lady,  and 
found  that,  although  she  was  exacting  in  requiring  her 
rules  to  be  obeyed,  yet  she  was  kind  and  always  ready 
to  aid  him.  His  duties  were  light,  and  as  the  good 
lady  discovered  his  taste  for  books,  she  extended  all 
encouragement  to  him  that  she  could.  She  permitted 
him  to  keep  up  his  connection  with  the  Sunday  school 
at  the  Moral  Reform  Retreat,  and  assisted  him  in 
acquiring  knowledge  of  books.  After  spending  eight- 
een months  very  profitably  and  pleasantly  in  the  home 
of  this  old  lady,  she  left  the  city  to  reside  with  her 
daughter  in  New  York.  This  ended  William's  engage- 
ment, and  he  was  sorry  enough  to  part  with  one  who 
was  so  kind  to  him.  With  the  references  from  the 
good  old  lady,  he  soon  secured  a  place  with  the  family 
of  a  retired  merchant  until  he  heard  that  a  clerk  was 
needed  in  the  office  of  the  Pennsylvania  An ti- Slavery 
Society.  He  made  application  for  the  position,  and 
was  informed  that  the  committee  would  employ  him 
provided  the  salary  suited,  $3.75  per  week.  In  the 
meantime,  having  won  a  lady  and  made  her  his  wife, 


PERSONAGES  OF  THE  AFRO-AMERICAN  RACE.  495 

he  looked  around  for  further  employment  in  order  that 
he  might  eke  out  a  comfortable  subsistence  for  himself 
and  wife.  This  he  procured  as  janitor  of  the  library 
building,  at  a  salary  of  $6  per  month.  His  wife,  in 
the  meantime,  carried  on  dressmaking.  His  faithful- 
ness and  ability  in  office  work  soon  induced  the 
committee  in  charge  of  the  Anti- Slavery  office  to 
increase  his  salary.  He  had  become  an  earnest,  con- 
fidential worker  in  the  underground  railroad  matters, 
and  his  house  had  been  known  as  a  safe  and  con- 
venient station  on  the  line  of  northward  march.  He 
was  ever  on  the  alert  to  aid  slaves  to  escape.  Many 
of  the  successful  attempts  that  he  made  to  liberate 
Negroes  are  recorded  in  his  volume,  "The  Under- 
ground Railroad."  He  resigned  as  chairman  of  the 
committee  in  1861,  and  immediately  began  business 
as  a  dealer  in  stoves,  also  the  sale  of  coal  on  a  small 
scale,  and  this  business  increased  until  he  has  become 
one  of  the  noted  coal  dealers  of  the  city.  He  was 
unanimously  elected  a  member  of  the  Philadelphia 
Board  of  Trade,  and  has  for  years  been  reaping  the 
reward  of  energy  and  integrity  in  the  shape  of  a  daily 
enlarging  confidence.  In  1872  he  published  his  work, 
"The  Underground  Railroad."  The  manuscript  had 
been  very  carefully  secreted  during  the  war,  as  no 
other  of  the  underground  railroad  managers  had 
dared  to  make  any  note  of  the  work.  At  the  Centen- 
nial Exposition  in  1876  his  book  attracted  much  atten- 
tion. Mr.  Still,  although  past  seventy-five  years  of  age, 
is  still  vigorous  and  active.  He  is  still  engaged  in  phi- 
lanthropic work.  He  is  actively  engaged  as  president, 
etc.,  on  the  board  of  "The  Home  for  Aged  and  Infirm 
Colored  People,"  for  more  than  thirty  years.  His  life 
has  been  a  busy  and  useful  one.  He  was  connected 


496  PROGRESS   OF    A    RACE. 

with  a  society  for  improving  the  condition  of  the  Negro 
race,  of  which  Benjamin  Franklin  was  first  president, 
and  which  was  organized  one  year  before  the  United 
States  government. 

The  reader  will,  no  doubt,  desire  to  know  something 
concerning  the  two  boys  who  were  sold  in  slavery  into 
the  South.  We  take  the  following  from  the  life  of 
William  Still,  giving  an  account  of  his  meeting  with 
his  brother: 

4 'One  summer  day,  in  1850,  as  I  was  busily  engaged 
in  mailing  the  weekly  issue  of  the  Pennsylvania  Free- 
man^  two  colored  men  entered  the  office.  One  of  them 
was  a  resident  of  Philadelphia,  and  well  known  to  me ; 
the  other  I  never  had  seen.  My  acquaintance  intro- 
duced the  stranger  as  coming  from  the  South,  and  with 
the  added  remark,  *He  will  tell  you  his  own  story.' 
I  paused,  and  the  stranger  began  in  a  very  deliberate 
manner,  saying:  'I  am  from  Alabama.  I  have  come 
in  search  of  my  people.  I  and  my  little  brother  were 
kidnapped  about  forty  years  ago,  and  I  thought  by 
coming  to  Philadelphia  and  having  notices  written  and 
read  in  the  colored  churches  old  people  would  remem- 
ber about  it,  and  I  could  find  my  mother  and  people. ' 

"  After  going  on  with  his  story  for  a  few  mintues  in 
this  way,  I  became  fully  satisfied  that,  if  his  story  were 
as  he  had  given  it  thus  far,  I  could  save  valuable  time 
by  asking  a  few  questions.  I  therefore  asked: 

"  'Where  were  you  kidnapped  from?' 

" A.  —'I  don't  know.' 

"Q. — 'Don't  you  know  the  name  of  the  place?' 

"A.— 'No.' 

"Q. — Don't  you  know  the  name  of  any  town,  river, 
neighborhood  or  state?' 

"A.—  'No.1 


PERSONAGES  OF  THE  AFRO-AMERICAN  RACE.  49? 

"Q. — 'What  was  your  name?' 

"A.— 'Peter.' 

"Q. — 'What  was  your  little  brother's  name?' 

"A.— 'Levin.' 

"Q. — 'What  were  the  names  of  your  father  and 
mother?' 

"A. — 'Mother's  name  was  Sidney  and  father's  name 
was  Levin?' 

"Q. — 'Do  you  remember  the  name  of  any  other 
person?' 

"A. — 'I  know  the  name  of  one  white  man.'  (Here 
he  named  him. ) 

"By  this  time  I  was  simply  thunderstruck,  so  to 
speak.  I  had  to  summon  all  my  powers  of  control  in 
the  presence  of  the  stranger,  so  fully  was  I  convinced 
by  this  time  that  he  was  one  of  my  long-lost  brothers. 
I  scarcely  knew  what  to  do  for  a  little  time,  but  by 
and  by  I  dismissed  the  pilot,  saying  I  would  look  further 
into  the  case  after  I  got  through  with  my  mailing  and 
take  care  of  the  stranger  over  night.  This  was  satis- 
factory to  the  pilot,  but  hardly  so  to  the  stranger,  till 
he  was  advised  by  his  friend  that  it  would  be  all  right. 

"Before  intimating  to  my  brother  the  discovery  I 
had  made,  I  allowed  a  full  hour  to  pass,  meanwhile 
plying  him  with  a  thousand  questions  touching  his 
entire  life.  Then,  seating  myself  by  his  side,  I  said : 
'  I  think  I  can  tell  you  all  about  your  kinf oik — mother, 
father,  etc.,'  and  went  on  to  say,  'You  are  an  own 
brother  of  mine. ' 

"As  anxious  as  he  had  been  all  his  life  to  find  his 
lost  parents  and  relatives,  this  news  was  at  the  moment 
too  'good  for  him  to  fully  credit.  He  was  as  one  dumb- 
founded. I  went  on  to  assure  him  of  the  truth  of  all  I 
had  said,  by  relating  our  family  history  in  detail,  and 

32  Progress. 


498  PROGRESS   OF  A   RACE. 

dwelling  particularly  on  mother's  escapes,  and  how, 
in  her  second  attempt,  she  was  obliged  to  leave  her 
two  little  boys,  Levin  and  Peter,  behind,  in  the  care 
of  their  grandmother. 

"Having  explained  the  matter  to  Peter  thus  fully, 
his  doubts  vanished  and  he  went  home  with  me.  Our 
two  sisters  living  in  Philadelphia,  who  were  acquainted 
with  all  the  secrets  of  the  family  history,  were  soon 
called  in,  and  became  joyful  witnesses  of  the  marvel- 
ous restoration.  Outside  of  myself  and  sisters,  I  felt 
sure  he  might  have  enquired  the  city  over  without 
having  obtained  the  slightest  cue  to  his  lost  relations. 

"The  next  day  he  was  taken  to  our  mother's  home 
in  New  Jersey,  and  fully  recognized  by  her,  not  a 
shadow  of  doubt  appearing  as  to  his  identity,  as  he  was 
her  very  image. 

"Allow  me  to  remark  just  here  that  it  was  this 
heartrending  history  connected  with  my  own  family 
that  first  prompted  me  to  keep  the  records  of  the 
underground  railroad.  Thousands  of  escapes,  har- 
rowing separations,  dreadful  longings,  dark  gropings 
after  lost  parents,  brothers,  sisters,  and  identities, 
seemed  ever  to  be  pressing  on  my  mind.  While  I 
knew  the  danger  of  keeping  strict  records,  and  while  I 
did  not  dream  that  in  my  day  slavery  would  be  blotted 
out,  or  that  the  time  would  come  when  I  could  publish 
these  records,  it  used  to  afford  me  great  satisfaction  to 
take  them  down  fresh  from  the  lips  of  fugitives  on  the 
way  to  freedom,  and  to  preserve  them  as  they  had 
given  them.  But,  thank  God!  the  end  of  slavery  came 
ere  we  looked  for  it,  and  the  records  are  no  longer 
preserved  in  secret,  nor  is  their  presence  a  source  of 
danger. ' ' 

Francis  Ellen  Watkins  Harper  was  born  in  Baltimore 


PERSONAGES  OF  THE  AFRO- AMERICAN  RACE.  499 

in  1825,  not  of  slave  parentage,  and  yet  subjected  to 
the  oppression  which  bond  and  free  alike  endured 
under  the  slave  laws.  Since  reaching  her  majority,  in 
looking  back,  the  following  sentences  from  her  own 
pen  express  the  loneliness  of  her  childhood  days: 
"Have  I  yearned  for  a  mother's  love?  The  grave 
was  my  robber.  Before  three  years  had  scattered 
their  blight  around  my  path,  death  had  won  my 
mother  from  me.  Would  a  strong  arm  of  a  brother 
have  been  welcome?  I  was  my  mother's  only  child. " 
An  aunt  cared  for  her  during  her  early  years.  She 
was  sent  to  school  until  she  was  about  thirteen  years 
of  age,  and  then  put  to  work  to  earn  her  living.  It 
was  her  fortune  to  work  for  a  lady  willing  to  let  her 
have  any  book  in  her  library  to  read  at  her  leisure, 
except  a  novel. 

She  had  an  ardent  thirst  for  knowledge,  and  a 
remarkable  talent  for  composition.  She  was  noted  for 
her  industry,  rarely  trifling  away  time,  as  many  girls 
are  wont  to  do.  In  early  life  she  acquired  a  taste  for 
reading  and  poetry,  and  soon  found,  as  she  says,  "she 
could  string  verses  together  and  make  them  jingle." 
Scarcely  had  she  reached  her  majority  before  she  had 
written  a  book,  "Forest  Leaves,"  consisting  of  prose 
and  poetry.  The  following  is  one  of  the  poems  of 
the  volume.  At  the  time  it  was  also  printed  in  an 
English  paper.  Not  having  either  the  volume  or  the 
paper  at  hand,  Mrs.  Harper  has  kindly  sent  us  a  copy 
which  she  has  quoted  from  memory,  although  she  is 
seventy-two  years  of  age : 

ETHIOPIA. 

Yes,  Ethiopia  yet  shall  stretch 
Her  bleeding  hands  abroad ; 

Her  cry  of  agony  shall  reach 
The  burning  throne  of  God. 


l>00  PROGRESS   OF  A   RACE. 

The  tyrant's  yoke  from  off  her  neck, 

His  fetters  from  her  soul, 
The  mighty  hand  of  God  shall  break 

And  spurn  the  base  control. 

Redeemed  from  dust,  and  freed  from  chains, 

Her  sons  shall  lift  their  eyes ; 
From  lofty  hills  and  verdant  plains 

Shall  shouts  of  triumph  rise. 

Upon  the  dark,  despairing  brow    . 
Shall  play  a  smile  of  peace ; 
For  God  shall  bend  unto  her  woe, 
And  bid  her  sorrows  cease. 

'Neath  sheltering  vines  and  stately  palma 

Shall  laughing  children  play ; 
And  aged  sires,  with  joyous  psalms, 

Shall  gladden  every  day. 

Secure  by  night  and  blest  by  day, 

Shall  pass  her  happy  hours ; 
No  human  tigers  hunt  for  prey 

Within  her  peaceful  bowers. 

Then,  Ethiopia,  stretch,  O,  stretch 

Thy  bleeding  hands  abroad ; 
Thy  cry  of  agony  shall  reach 

And  find  the  throne  of  God. 

Her  taste  for  poetry  was  nurtured  and  fed  in  her 
uncle's  school,  which  she  attended  for  a  number  of 
years.  Among  the  early  recollections  of  her  life  are 
some  reminiscences  of  Whittier  and  Garrison.  Of 
her  uncle,  she  says:  "Our  teacher,  in  instructing  his 
pupils,  did  more  than  simply  carry  us  through  the 
routine  of  lessons,  and  nearly  sixty  years  have  not 
affected  what  I  learned  in  that  little  school  room, 
which  was  only  a  few  yards  from  a  slave-pen. ' ' 

All  her  writings  have  a  highly  moral  and  elevated 
tone.  In  1851  she  left  Baltimore  to  seek  a  home  in  a 
free  state,  and  for  a  short  time  resided  in  Ohio,  where 


PERSONAGES  OF  THE  AFRO-AMERICAN  RACE.  501 

she  was  engaged  in  teaching.  She  soon  left  that  state, 
and  engaged  in  teaching  in  Little  York,  Pennsylvania. 
While  in  York  she  had  frequent  opportunities  of  seeing 
passengers  of  the  underground  railroad.  In  one 
of  her  letters,  she  alluded  to  a  traveler,  thus:  "I  saw 
a  passenger  per  the  underground  yesterday.  Not- 
withstanding the  abomination  of  the  nineteenth 
century,  the  fugitive  slave  law  men  still  determine 
to  be  free.  Notwithstanding  all  the  darkness  in  which 
they  keep  the  slaves,  it  seems  that  somehow  light  is 
dawning  upon  their  minds.  These  poor  fugitives  are 
a  property  that  can  walk.  Just  to  think  that  from  the 
rain-bow  crowned  Niagara  to  the  swollen  waters  of  the 
Mexican  Gulf,  from  the  restless  murmur  of  the 
Atlantic  to  the  ceaseless  roar  of  the  Pacific,  the  poor, 
half -starved,  flying  fugitive  has  no  resting  place  for 
the  sole  of  his  foot."  In  1853  Maryland,  her  native 
state,  enacted  a  law  forbidding  free  people  of  color 
from  the  North  from  going  into  the  state,  on  pain  of 
being  imprisoned  and  sold  into  slavery.  A  free  man, 
who  had  unwittingly  violated  this  infamous  statute, 
had  recently  been  sold  in  Georgia,  but  had  escaped 
thence  by  hiding  behind  the  wheel-house  of  a  boat 
bound  northward.  Before  he  reached  the  desired 
haven,  he  was  discovered  and  remanded  to  slavery, 
and  soon  after  died  from  the  effects  of  exposure  and 
suffering.  In  a  letter  to  a  friend  referring  to  this 
outrage,  Mrs.  Harper  wrote:  "Upon  that  grave  I 
pledged  myself  to  the  Anti- Slavery  cause.  "  She  soon 
went  to  Philadelphia,  making  her  home  at  the  station 
of  the  underground  railroad.  Although  anxious  to 
enter  the  anti-slavery  field  as  a  worker,  her  modesty 
prevented  her  from  pressing  her  claims,  and,  being 
>ut  little  known,  no  especial  encouragement  was  ten- 


5U2  PROGRESS   OF  A   RACE. 

dered  her.  From  Philadelphia  she  went  to  Boston,  and 
soon  was  found  lecturing  in  New  Bedford  Her  first 
effort  made  such  an  impression  that  she  was  at  once 
engaged  by  the  State  An ti- Slavery  Society  of  Maine. 
Her  ability  and  labors  were  everywhere  appreciated, 
and  her  meetings  were  largely  attended.  Open  doors, 
hospitable  homes,  and  helping  hands  were  proof  that 
she  had  found  her  field  of  labor  in  pleading  for  the 
cause  of  her  people  in  bondage. 

For  a  year  and  one-half,  she  continued  in  the  Eastern 
states,  and  then  visited  the  fugitives  in  Canada.  Her 
newly  acquired  reputation  as  a  lecturer  opened  wide 
for  her  the  door  in  Pennsylvania  and  Ohio.  Her  con- 
stant traveling  required  her  absence  from  what  she 
might  call  home,  and  she  often  expressed  the  desire 
that  she  might  be  able  to  enjoy  the  blessings  of  a 
home,  "and  yet,"  says  she,  "I  do  not  regret  that  I 
have  espoused  this  cause.  Perhaps  I  have  been  of 
some  service  to  the  cause  of  human  rights,  and  I  hope 
the  consciousness  that  I  have  not  lived  in  vain  will 
be  a  halo  of  peace  around  my  dying  bed,  a  heavenly 
sunshine  lighting  up  the  dark  valley  and  shadow  of 
death."  She  was  far  from  desiring  at  her  death  a 
burial  in  a  slave  state,  as  expressed  in  the  following 
language : 

"Make  me  a  grave  wher'er  you  will, 
In  a  lowly  plain  or  a  lofty  hill ; 
Make  it  among  earth's  humblest  graves, 
But  not  in  a  land  where  men  are  slaves." 

In  the  fall  of  1860,  Mrs.  Harper  was  married  to 
Fenton  Harper,  a  widower  and  a  resident  of  Ohio. 
The  means  she  had  saved  from  the  sale  of  her  books 
and  from  lectures  she  invested  in  a  small  farm  near 
Columbus.  Notwithstanding  her  family  cares,  she 


PERSONAGES  OF  THE  AFRO-AMERICAN  RACE.  503 

only  ceased  from  her  literary  and  anti-slavery  labors 
when  compelled  to  do  so  by  other  duties.  In  1864 
death  deprived  her  of  her  husband.  After  the  war, 
she  spent  much  of  her  time  in  laboring  for  her  people 
in  the  South.  Mrs.  Harper  traveled  extensively, 
going  on  the  plantations  among  the  lowly  as  well  at 
to  the  cities  and  towns,  addressing  schools,  churches, 
meetings  in  court  houses,  etc.,  influenced  wholly  by 
the  noble  impulses  of  her  own  heart,  working  her  way 
along  unsustained  by  any  society.  The  work  among 
the  freedmen  of  today  may  sometimes  have  difficulties 
and  trials  to  encounter,  but  for  Mrs.  Harper,  in  the 
days  of  reconstruction,  when  the  Negro  had  no  rights 
that  a  white  man  might  respect,  to  go  alone  into  these 
waste  places  of  the  South  and  bring  comfort  and 
encouragement  to  the  down-trodded  of  her  race,  often 
endangering  her' life,  was  more  than  the  average  indi- 
vidual of  today  would  consent  to  do.  After  many 
years  of  hard  labor  in  the  South,  Mrs.  Harper 
returned  to  Philadelphia,  where  she  has  since  had  her 
home.  She  is,  however,  not  idle,  but  is  always  look- 
ing to  the  necessities  of  those  around  her,  whom  she 
may  lift  up  by  her  encouraging  and  helpful  advice.  Mrs. 
Harper  is  a  woman  of  high  moral  tone,  with  superior 
native  powers,  highly  cultivated,  and  a  captivating 
eloquence  that  hold  her  audience  in  rapt  attention 
from  the  beginning  to  the  close.  She  always  speaks 
well,  but  particularly  so  when  the  subject  relates  to 
the  condition  of  her  people,  in  whose  welfare,  before 
and  since  the  war,  she  has  taken  the  deepest  interest. 
The  following  lines  were  written  by  Mrs.  Francis 
E.  Harper  on  the  return  from  Cleveland,  Ohio,  of  a 
poor,  ill-fated  girl,  under  the  Fugitive  Slave  law : 


504  PROGRESS   OF  A   RACE. 

TO  THE  UNION  SAVERS  OF  CLEVELAND. 

"Men  of  Cleveland,  had  a  vulture 
Sought  a  timid  dove  for  prey, 
Would  you  not,  with  human  pity, 
Drive  the  gory  bird  away? 

Had  you  seen  a  feeble  lambkin 

Shrinking  from  a  wolf  so  bold, 
Would  ye  not,  to  shield  the  trembler, 

In  your  arms  have  made  its  fold? 

But  when  she,  a  hunted  sister, 
Stretched  her  hands  that  ye  might  save, 

Colder  far  than  Zembla's  regions 
Was  the  answer  that  ye  gave. 

On  the  Union's  bloody  altar 

Was  the  hapless  victim  laid ; 
Mercy,  truth,  and  justice  shuddered, 

But  your  hands  would  give  no  aid. 

And  ye  sent  her  back  to  torture, 
Robbed  of  freedom  and  of  right, 

Thus  the  wretched  captive  stranger 
Back  to  slavery's  gloomy  night. 

Back  where  brutal  men  may  trample 

On  her  honor  and  her  fame ; 
And  unto  her  lips  so  dusky, 

Press  the  cup  of  woe  and  shame. 

There  is  blood  upon  your  city, 

Dark  and  dismal  is  the  stain ; 
And  your  hands  would  fail  to  cleanse  it 

Though  Lake  Erie  ye  should  drain. 

There's  a  curse  upon  your  Union, 

Fearful  sounds  are  in  the  air ; 
As  if  thunderbolts  were  framing 

Answers  to  the  bondsman's  prayer. 

Ye  may  offer  human  victims 

Like  the  heathen  priests  of  old; 
And  may  barter  manly  honor 

For  the  Union  and  for  gold. 


PERSONAGES  OF  THE  AFRO-AMERICAN  RACE.  505 

But  ye  cannot  stay  the  whirlwind 
-  When  the  storm  begins  to  break; 
And  our  God  doth  rise  in  judgment 
For  the  poor  and  needy's  sake. 

And  your  sin-cursed,  guilty  Union, 

Shall  be  shaken  to  its  base, 
Till  ye  learn  that  simple  justice 

Is  the  right  of  every  race." 

Since  freedom  she  has  also  been  engaged  in  the  tem- 
perance field,  and  for  many  years  has  held  the  position 
of  superintendent  of  colored  work  in  the  Woman's 
Christian  Temperance  Union.  She  has  contributed 
freely  to  the  columns  of  the  Union  Signal^  the  weekly 
paper  of  that  organization.  She  has  been  a  member 
from  the  beginning  of  the  "Woman's  Congress," 
holding  for  a  time  the  position  of  director.  She  has 
spoken  at  and  attended  the  "National  Council  of 
Women."  Although  seventy-two  years  old,  she  is 
still  in  the  lecture  field,  and  is  actively  engaged  in 
different  lines  of  literary  work.  Her  home  is  1006 
Bainbridge  street,  Philadelphia,  Pennsylvania.  There 
is  probably  no  woman,  white  or  colored,  who  has 
come  so  intimately  in  contact  with  the  colored  people 
in  the  South,  for  she  has  labored  in  every  Southern 
state  except  Arkansas  and  Texas.  She  has  never 
lacked  for  evidences  of  hearty  appreciation  and  grati- 
tude. 

EDUCATORS. 

The  items  of  the  following  biographical  sketch  have  been 
gleaned  from  different  sources  but  principally  from  an  article  by 
Dr.  Parks,  of  Gammon  Theological  Seminary. 

(H.  F.  Kletzing.) 

Prof.  W.  H.  Crogman,  A.  M.,  who  occupies  the  chair 
of  Greek  and  Latin  in  Clark  University,  Atlanta, 
Georgia,  in  Christian  character,  scholarship  in  his 


506  PROGRESS    OF   A   RACE. 

department,  literary  ability,  general  culture,  and 
distinguished  services,  stands,  it  is  safe  to  say,  at  the 
very  head  of  the  colored  race.  In  all  the  particulars 
mentioned,  he  would  honor  a  professorship  in  any 
college  in  the  land. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  born  on  the  Island  of 
St.  Martin's,  May  5,  1841.  In  1855  he  went  to  sea  on 
a  vessel  on  which  Mr.  B.  L.  Boomer  was  mate.  Mr. 
Boomer  took  a  deep  interest  in  him,  and  afterwards 
took  him  to  his  home  in  Massachusetts.  Mr.  Boomer's 
brothers  were  sea  captains.  The  boy,  Willie  Crog- 
man,  followed  the  sea  with  this  family  for  eleven  years. 
He  visited  many  lands,  and,  observant  and  thoughtful, 
obtained  a  wide  knowledge  of  various  nationalities 
and  parts  of  the  world.  His  visits  included  especially 
England,  various  points  of  the  continent  of  Europe, 
Calcutta  and  Bombay  in  Asia,  and  various  places  in 
South  America.  Mr.  Boomer  says: 

"It  has  been  my  good  fortune  to  know  our  good 
friend  all  the  way  since  he  was  fifteen  years  old,  and 
it  would  afford  me  the  greatest  satisfaction  if  I  could 
feel  that  his  great  success  in  all  these  years  had  in  any 
manner  been  furthered  by  me.  On  the  contrary,  his 
untiring  perseverance,  diligent,  wise  and  studious  use 
of  his  time  and  money,  made  him  from  the  first  inde- 
pendent of  all  save  our  love,  respect  and  never-ceasing 
interest." 

In  1866,  at  the  suggestion  of  Mr.  Boomer,  he  began 
to  earn  means  to  attend  an  academy,  and  in  1868 
entered  Pierce  Academy,  in  Massachusetts.  Of  his 
work  during  the  two  years  in  this  school,  Prof.  J.  W. 
P.  Jenks,  of  Brown  University,  who  was  then  the 
principal  of  the  academy,  says: 

"Beginning  with  me    in    the    elementary   English 


PERSONAGES  OF  THE  AFRO-AMERICAN  RACE.  507 

branches,  I  may  safely  say,  in  them  all,  he  accom- 
plished in  one  quarter  as  much  as  the  average  student 
did  in  two,  mastering  almost  intuitively,  and  with 
equal  facility,  both  mathematical  and  linguistical  prin- 
ciples. I  formed  him  into  a  class  of  one,  lest  he 
should  be  hindered  by  the  dullness  of  others.  In  the 
third  quarter  he  commenced  French,  and,  as  I  have 
often  said,  surpassed  every  one  of  the  hundreds  of 
students,  in  both  rapidity  of  advancement  and  accuracy 
of  scholarship.  I  need  say  no  more,  except  that  his 
record  since  leaving  the  academy,  taking  all  the  exten- 
uating circumstances  into  the  account,  has  reflected 
greater  honor  upon  me  as  its  principal,  and  his  almost 
sole  instructor  while  connected  with  it,  than  any  other 
alumnus. ' ' 

After  completing  this  academic  course,  Prof.  Crog- 
man  started  South  to  give  his  life  to  the  Christian 
education  of  his  race.  He  spent  three  years  as  instruc- 
tor in  English  branches  at  Claflin  University,  Orange- 
burg,  South  Carolina.  The  experience  of  these  years 
impressed  upon  him  the  need  of  a  knowledge  of  Greek 
and  Latin,  and  at  the  age  of  twenty-nine  he  began  the 
study  of  Latin  by  himself.  In  the  fall  of  1873,  he 
entered  Atlanta  University,  completing  the  full  clas- 
sical course  in  1876.  Through  industry,  thorough 
scholarship  and  rapid  advancement,  he  completed  the 
four  years  course  in  three,  then  carrying  off  as  his  bride 
one  of  the  noblest  and  most  gifted  and  cultured  young 
ladies,  Miss  Lavinia  C.  Mott,  of  Charlotte,  North 
Carolina,  Professor  Crogman  entered  upon  the 
worjk  to  which  he  has  given  all  these  years.  Called  at 
once  to  the  position  in  the  faculty  of  Clark  University, 
he  has  occupied  his  present  chair  since  1880.  For  more 
than  twenty  long  years,  Professor  Crogman  has  been 


508  PROGRESS   OF   A   RACE. 

an  incessant  laborer,  and  continuous  in  self  sacrificing, 
in  order  that  he  might  break  the  fetters  of  ignorance 
and  superstition,  and  give  liberty  to  the  captives.  His 
earnestness  and  faithfulness  in  the  class-room,  where 
he  is  so  much  at  home,  produces  an  eloquence  more 
effective  than  a  thousand  orators  upon  the  stage. 
Learned  and  yet  modest,  humble  and  yet  dignified,  he 
carries  with  him  a  personality  that  is  his  own.  As  the 
result  of  his  labor,  let  the  voices  from  a  thousand  ham- 
lets in  this  and  adjoining  states  speak  out;  let  the 
young  men  and  women  from  a  thousand  homes,  who 
have  imbibed  knowledge  and  manhood  at  his  feet, 
come  forward  and  tell  the  story. 

Pages  might  be  written  containing  tributes  from  his 
students  through  all  these  years.  His  is  a  life  whose 
influence  is  not  bounded  by  any  section  of  country. 
To  him  more  than  to  any  other  instructor  are  many  of 
the  educated  colored  people  of  the  South  indebted  for 
the  success  with  which  they  are  meeting. 

At  his  fiftieth  anniversary,  letters  from  students 
expressive  of  their  highest  appreciation  of  him  were 
read,  the  excellent  qualities  that  characterize  him  as 
a  man  and  as  a  teacher  were  vividly  set  forth,  as  well 
as  his  thorough  work  in  class-room,  system  and  method 
in  instructing,  manly  and  helpful  talks  that  often 
were  a  source  of  inspiration  and  led  many  to  noble 
resolves. 

Professor  Crogman's  library  is  large,  choice  and 
costly,  and  every  book  in  it  shows  that  it  has  been 
used.  He  is  a  close  and  thorough  student. 

He  was  a  lay  delegate  to  the  General  Conference  of 
the  M.  E.  Church  of  1880,  1884  and  1888,  and  one  of 
the  secretaries  of  the  last  two  of  these,  being  the  first 
colored  man  placed  on  the  staff  of  secretaries  of  a  gen- 
eral conference  of  that  church, 


PERSONAGES  OF  THE  AFRO-AMERICAN  RACE.          509 

At  his  fiftieth  anniversary,  already  referred  to,  his 
friends  presented  him  with  an  elegant  gold  watch,  a 
beautiful  set  of  Carlsbad  china,  nine  handsomely  bound 
volumes  of  ancient  classics,  and  a  large  ornamental 
inkstand,  from  which  rolled  out  one  hundred  dollars 
in  gold. 

Mrs.  Crogman,  a  graduate  of  Atlanta  University,  in 
her  character  and  services  as  his  helpmeet,  and  as 
queen  of  one  of  the  most  refined  and  cultured  homes, 
and  as  mother  of  eight  most  promising  children,  is 
worthy  of  no  less  honor  than  the  professor  himself. 

Some  years  ago  a  university  of  good  standing 
conferred  upon  Professor  Crogman  the  degree  of 
LL.D.,  but  in  his  modesty  he  insists  on  declining  the 
honor,  and  most  of  his  friends  defer  to  his  wishes  in 
not  using  the  title,  though  they  regard  him  as  worthy 
of  the  honor  it  implies.  Professor  Crogman,  though 
closely  confined  to  his  class-room  for  most  of  the  year, 
has  addressed  with  great  acceptability  not  only  his  own 
people,  on  various  occasions,  but  some  of  the  most 
prominent  audiences  in  this  country,  notably  at  Ocean 
Grove,  in  Beecher's  church,  and  at  the  National 
Teachers'  Association.  His  address,  a  few  years  ago, 
at  the  meeting  of  the  last  named  in  Madison,  Wiscon- 
sin, was  generally  regarded  as  one  of  the  ablest  and 
most  eloquent. 

His  life  is  a  busy  one.  Besides  attending  to  the 
many  duties  devolving  upon  him,  he  is  author  of  a 
volume,  * '  Talks  for  the  Times, ' '  which  cannot  but  be 
a  blessing  to  all  who  read  it.  This  volume  is  receiving 
the  highest  encomiums  from  both  press  and  educators 
in  all  parts  of  the  land.  These  addresses  are  rhetori- 
cally beautiful,  intellectually  brilliant,  and  show  the 
author  to  be  perfectly  familiar  with  history,  philosophy 
and  current  literature. 


510  PROGRESS  OF  A  RACE. 

Bishop  Mallalieu  says  of  him :  ' '  He  is  a  man  in  whom 
I  have  the  greatest  confidence.  He  is  an  honor  to  the 
human  race.  I  wish  the  world  was  full  of  such  men. " 

As  chief  Exposition  Commissioner  for  the  colored 
people  of  the  state  of  Georgia,  it  was  he  who  made  the 
exhibit  of  the  cotton  states  and  international  exposition 
of  Atlanta,  in  1895,  such  a  remarkable  success.  His 
race  feels  proud  of  him.  Well  may  they  wish  that  he 
were  many  times  multiplied. 

Professor  Crogman  has  been  presiding  in  the  school 
room  for  more  than  twenty  years,  and  has  occupied 
the  chair  of  languages  at  Clark  University  for  nearly 
that  length  of  time,  and  during  these  years  he  has 
been  secretary  of  the  trustee  boards  of  both  Clark 
University  and  Gammon  Theological  Seminary.  Be- 
sides these  heavy  duties,  he  has  taken  an  active  part 
in  all  movements  that  had  for  their  object  the  better- 
ment of  the  state,  the  city,  the  United  States  and  his 
people. 

The  story  of  his  life  shows  something  of  the  adverse 
circumstances  under  which  he  has  labored,  the  man- 
hood, scholarship,  usefulness  to  his  race  and  humanity, 
and  the  honor  his  indefatigable  industry,  perseverance, 
hard  work,  and  Christian  faith  have  achieved,  and 
points  the  way  to  every  aspiring  youth,  however  lowly 
and  unfavorable  his  circumstances.  Few  men  have 
rendered  more  faithful  and  useful  services  in  educa- 
tional work  than  Professor  Crogman.  Few  men  have 
steadily  and  unwaveringly  maintained  a  more  straight- 
forward and  manly  course,  or  acted  more  wisely  under 
all  circumstances,  than  has  he.  He  is  every  inch  a 
Christian  gentleman,  a  living-  teacher  in  no  mere  tech- 
nical nor  narrow  sense.  His  platform  utterances 
show  thorough  preparation  and  are  received  with 
delight  by  whites  and  blacks  alike. 


PERSONAGES  OF  THE  AFRO-AMERICAN  RACE. 


511 


Well  does  Professor  Parks  say:  "In  a  true  estimate, 
not  only  of  many  enlarged  and  ennobled  individual 
lives,  but  also  of  the  great  movement  since  emancipa- 
tion in  the  elevation  of  the  colored  people,  he  must  be 
given  an  important  place. " 


PROF.  W.  SCARBOROUGH,  LL.  D. 

For  twenty  years  Professor  in  Wilberforce  University. 

Prof.  W.  S.  Scarborough,  LL.D.— The  subject  of 
this  sketch  was  born  in  Macon,  Georgia,  February  16, 
1852.  He  inherited  a  passionate  love  for  knowledge, 
besides  an  aptness  to  overcome  all  obstacles  in  obtain- 


§12  PROGRESS  OF  A  RACE. 

ing  it.  The  Georgia  law  required  that  any  Negfd 
caught  with  a  spelling  book  in  his  hand  should  receive 
severe  punishment,  and  the  white  man  who  taught  the 
Negro  should  pay  a  heavy  penalty  or  go  to  the  peni- 
tentiary. Yet,  young  Scarborough  was  so  keen  that 
with  his  book  concealed  he  spent  part  of  the  time  in  a 
private  school  ostensibly  to  play.  He  continued  in 
this  clandestine  way  to  attend  undisturbed  one  of  the 
few  private  schools  up  to  the  close  of  the  war,  and  was 
then  placed  under  the  instructions  of  a  Miss  Kidd, 
from  the  North.  Later  he  entered  the  Atlanta 
University,  where  he  spent  two  years  in  preparation 
for  a  Northern  college.  In  1871  he  graduated  from 
the  preparatory  department  of  the  Atlanta  University, 
and  in  the  fall  entered  Oberlin  College,  where  he 
spent  four  years.  He  was  a  hard  working  student, 
which  made  him  popular  with  his  classmates;  his 
genial  disposition  and  gentlemanly  bearing  won  for 
him  many  friends.  Immediately  after  graduation  in 
1875,  he  taught  Latin,  Greek  and  mathematics  in  the 
Lewis  High  School,  but  in  1876  he  returned  to  Oberlin, 
and  spent  some  months  in  studying  Hebrew  and 
Hellenistic  Greek.  He  then  became  Principal  of 
Payne  Institute,  Cokesville,  South  Carolina,  and  in 
1877  was  called  to  the  chair  of  ancient  languages  in 
Wilberforce  University,  near  Xenia,  Ohio,  which  posi- 
tion he  has  held  for  many  years  with  marked  ability. 
His  experience  is  large  and  varied.  Clear  in  explana- 
tion, polished  in  language  and  bearing,  profound  in 
scholarship,  a  perfect  gentleman,  he  has  been  able  to 
impress  himself  upon  many  young  minds  as  few  young 
men  have  been  able  to  do.  With  unflinching  steadfast- 
ness of  purpose,  unwavering  uprightness  and  straight- 
forward devotion  to  principle,  he  has  been  enabled  to 


PERSONAGES  OF  THE  AFRO-AMERICAN  RACE.  513 

attain  the  heights  and  win  the  fame  so  undeniably  his. 

In  1880  he  prepared  his  "First  Lessons  in  Greek," 
which  was  published  by  Barnes  &  Co.  This  book  has 
received  the  highest  encomiums  from  the  press,  and 
what  is  still  better,  received  practical  recognition, 
that  of  adoption  by  schools  and  colleges,  both  white 
and  colored.  He  has  been  a  frequent  contributor  to 
the  press,  and  has  been  quite  active  in  political  life, 
being  elected  to  state  conventions,  and  quite  frequent- 
ly an  active  worker  in  the  campaigns  as  speaker. 

Professor  Scarborough  has,  however,  won  his  laurels 
as  a  scholar.  As  a  teacher  and  philologist  his  ability 
is  unquestioned.  He  has  paid  especial  attention  to 
Sanscrit  and  other  old  languages,  and  has  not  neglected 
the  modern.  He  is  author  of  a  number  of  works, 
notably  "Latin  Moods  and  Tenses,"  "Questions  on 
Latin  Grammar,  with  Appendix."  As  a  member  of 
the  American  Philological  Association,  he  has  con- 
tributed valuable  papers  at  different  times.  Prof. 
Scarborough  stands  out  as  one  of  the  ripest  scholars 
and  prominent  educators  of  his  race. 

Principal  Booker  T.  Washington,  A.  M.— "  I  was 
born  a  slave  on  a  plantation  in  Virginia,  in  1857  or 
1858, 1  think.  My  first  memory  of  life  is  that  of  a  one- 
room  log  cabin  with  a  dirt  floor  and  a  hole  in  the 
center  that  served  as  a  winter  home  for  sweet  potatoes, 
and,  wrapped  in  a  few  rags  on  this  dirt  floor,  I  spent 
my  nights,  and,  clad  in  a  single  garment  about  the  plan- 
tation, I  often  spent  my  days.  The  morning  of  free- 
dom came,  and,  though  a  child,  I  recall  vividly  my 
appearance  with  that  of  forty  or  fifty  slaves  before  the 
veranda  of  the  'big  house,'  to  hear  read  the  docu- 
ments that  made  us  men  instead  of  property.  With 
the  long-prayed-for  freedom  in  actual  possession,  each 

83  Progress. 


514  PROGRESS   OF  A   RACE. 

started  out  into  the  world  to  find  new  friends  and  new 
homes.  My  mother  decided  to  locate  in  West  Virginia, 
and  after  many  days  and  nights  of  weary  travel,  we 
found  ourselves  among  the  salt  furnaces  and  coal 
mines  of  West  Virginia.  Soon  after  reaching  West 
Virginia  I  began  to  work  in  the  coal  mines  for  the 
support  of  my  mother. 

"While  doing  this,  I  heard,  in  some  way,  I  do  not  now 
remember  how,  of  General  Armstrong's  school  at 
Hampton,  Virginia.  I  heard  at  the  same  time,  which 
impressed  me  most,  that  it  was  a  school  where  a  poor 
boy  could  work  for  his  education,  so  far  as  his  board 
was  concerned.  As  soon  as  I  heard  of  Hampton,  I 
made  up  my  mind  that  in  some  way  I  was  going  to  find 
my  way  to  that  institution.  I  began  at  once  to  save 
every  nickel  I  could  get  hold  of.  At  length,  with  my 
own  savings  and  a  little  help  from  my  brother  and 
mother,  I  started  for  Hampton,  although  at  the  time 
I  hardly  knew  where  Hampton  was,  or  how  much  it 
would  cost  to  reach  the  school.  After  walking  a  por- 
tion of  the  distance,  traveling  in  a  stage  coach  and  cars 
the  remainder  of  the  journey,  I  at  length  found  my- 
self in  the  city  of  Richmond,  Virginia.  I  also  found  my- 
self without  money,  friends  or  a  place  to  stay  all  night 
The  last  cent  of  my  money  had  been  expended.  Af  tei 
walking  about  the  city  till  midnight,  growing  almost 
discouraged  and  quite  exhausted,  I  crept  under  a  side- 
walk and  slept  all  that  night.  The  next  morning,  as 
good  luck  would  have  it,  I  found  myself  near  a  ship 
that  was  unloading  pig-iron.  I  applied  to  the  captain 
for  work,  and  he  gave  it,  and  I  worked  on  this  ship  by 
day  and  slept  under  the  sidewalk  by  night,  till  I  had 
earned  money  enough  to  continue  my  way  to  Hampton, 
where  I  soon  arrived,  with  50  cents  in  my  pocket. 


PERSONAGES  OF  THE  AFRO-AMERICAN  RACE.  515 

"I  at  once  found  General  Armstrong,  and  told  him 
what  I  had  come  for,  and  what  my  condition  was.  In 
his  great  hearty  way,  he  said  that  if  I  was  worth  any- 
thing he  would  give  me  a  chance  to  work  for  my 
education.  While  at  Hampton,  I  resolved,  if  God 
permitted  me  to  finish  the  course  of  study,  I  would 
enter  the  far  South,  the  black  belt  of  the  Gulf  states, 
and  give  my  life  in  providing  as  best  I  could  the  same 
kind  of  chance  for  self-help  for  the  youth  of  my  race 
that  I  found  ready  for  me  when  I  went  to  Hampton, 
and  so,  in  1881,  I  left  Hampton  and  went  to  Tuskegee 
and  started  the  Normal  and  Industrial  Institute  in  a 
small  church  and  shanty,  with  one  teacher  and  thirty 
students. 

'*  Since  then  the  institution  of  Tuskegee  has  grown 
till  we  have  connected  with  the  institution  eighty-one 
instructors  and  850  young  men  and  women,  represent- 
ing nineteen  states ;  and,  if  I  add  the  families  of  our 
instructors,  we  have  on  our  grounds  constantly  a  pop- 
ulation of  about  1,000  souls.  The  students  are  about 
equally  divided  between  the  sexes,  and  their  average 
is  1 8^  years.  In  planning  the  course  of  training  at 
Tuskegee  we  have  steadily  tried  to  keep  in  view  our 
condition  and  our  needs  rather  than  to  pattern  our 
course  of  study  directly  after  that  of  a  people  whose 
opportunities  of  civilization  have  been  far  different 
and  far  superior  to  ours.  From  the  first,  industrial  or 
hand  training  has  been  made  a  special  feature  of  our 
work." 

Pres.  Richard  Robert  Wright,  A.  M.— The  parents 
of  Richard  Robert  Wright  were  South  Carolinians. 
Coming  to  Georgia  in  1853,  they  first  settled  in  Dalton, 
where  Richard  was  born.  In  his  boyhood  he  worked 
on  the  farm.  Immediately  after  the  war,  he  attended 


516  PROGRESS   OF  A  RACE. 

school  in  Cuthbert.  Subsequently,  on  the  removal  of 
his  parents  to  Atlanta,  he  enjoyed  the  privileges  of  the 
city  schools,  and  in  course  of  time  was  graduated  from 
the  college  course  of  Atlanta  University. 

Immediately  upon  graduation  he  returned  to  Cuth- 
bert, and  was  made  principal  of  the  Howard  Normal 
School,  which  position  he  held  for  four  years.  In 
1878  he  called  the  first  convention  of  Negro  teachers 
ever  assembled  in  Georgia,  and  was  for  three  years 
president  of  that  body.  When,  in  1880,  it  assumed 
the  name  of  the  Georgia  State  Teachers'  Association 
he  was  again  elected  president.  In  the  same  year  he 
was  called  to  the  principalship  of  the  Ware  High 
School,  in  Augusta,  the  first  high  school  ever  estab- 
lished in  the  state,  and  supported  by  city  funds.  For 
ten  years  Mr.  Wright  remained  at  the  head  of  this 
school,  or  until  he  was  called  by  the  state  to  organize 
the  Georgia  State  Industrial  College,  over  which  he 
now  presides.  He  is  also  vice-president  of  the  Board 
of  Trustees  of  Atlanta  University.  By  request,  he 
represented,  in  1881,  the  work  of  the  American  Mis- 
sionary Association,  at  its  annual  meeting  in  Worces- 
ter, Massachusetts. 

Besides  his  services  to  education,  President  Wright 
has  mingled  some  in  politics,  both  state  and  national. 
He  was  a  member  of  the  National  Republican  Conven- 
tion that  nominated  Garfield;  also  a  member  of  the 
one  that  nominated  and  of  the  one  that  renominated 
Harrison.  In  one  of  the  national  conventions  he 
served  on  the  platform  committee  with  Governor,  now 
President,  McKinley. 

For  ten  years  President  Wright  was  editor  of  an 
influential  newspaper,  and  wrote  for  others,  being  once 
a  regular  correspondent  of  a  Democratic  daily. 


PERSONAGES  OF  THE  AFRO- AMERICAN  RACE.  517 

Recently  the  following  tribute  to  President  Wright 
appeared  in  a  reputable  newspaper.  Coming  from 
Prof.  Thomas  N.  Chase,  one  of  President  Wright's  old 
teachers,  the  tribute  has  the  more  force : 

"Pres.  R.  R.  Wright  became  my  pupil  in  1869.  I 
have  had  an  intimate  acquaintance  with  him  ever 
since.  He  was  one  of  the  brightest  students  Atlanta 
University  has  had,  and  is  its  most  prominent 
graduate.  Col.  A.  E.  Buck  has  said  to  me  more  than 
once  that  President  Wright  was  the  ablest  colored  man 
in  Georgia,  and  I  concur  with  him  in  his  estimate.  As 
principal  of  the  Howard  Normal  School  at  Cuthbert, 
and  then  as  principal  of  the  Ware  High  School  in 
Augusta,  and  later  as  president  of  the  State  College 
at  Savannah,  as  editor  of  a  paper  for  many  years,  as 
trustee  of  Atlanta  University,  as  the  institution's 
commencement  orator,  by  his  public  addresses  in  all 
the  large  cities  of  his  state,  by  conducting  of  teachers' 
institutes,  by  his  printed  speeches  and  essays,  and  in 
other  ways,  President  Wright  has  come  to  be  the  best 
known  and  most  influential  colored  man  in  the  state 
of  Georgia,  and  best  of  all,  he  has  maintained  an  untar- 
nished reputation,  and  his  example  and  teachings  have 
always  been  on  the  side  of  morality  and  virtue." 

Such,  in  brief,  has  been  the  life  and  career  of  the 
little  black,  barefooted  boy  who,  shortly  after  the  war, 
when  General  Howard,  addressing  a  school  in  the  city 
of  Atlanta,  asked  the  question,  ''What  shall  I  tell  your 
friends  in  the  North?"  instantly  replied :  "Tell  them  we 
are  rising. ' '  The  poet  Whittier,  hearing  of  this,  immor- 
talized it  in  verses,  of  which  the  following  is  a  stanza: 

'Oh,  black  boy  of  Atlanta,  but  half  was  spoken; 

The  slave's  chains  and  the  master's  are  broken, 

The  one  curse  of  the  races  held  both  in  tether, 

They  are  rising,  all  are  rising,  the  black  and  white  together." 


518 


PROGRESS    OF    A    RACE. 


PROF.  WM.   E.   HOLMES, 

President  Central  City  College,  Macon,  Ga. 

Prof.  Wm.  E.  Holmes,  A.  M.— Prof.  William  E. 
Holmes,  President  of  Central  City  College,  is  another 
worthy  representative  of  his  race.  Like  many  others 
born  in  obscurity,  he  has,  by  honesty,  diligence,  and 
studious  habits,  lifted  himself  to  a  position  of  respect- 
ability and  great  usefulness  among  his  fellow  men. 
Born  of  slave  parents,  he  has,  at  least,  shown  that  he 
deserved  to  be  free. 

His  taste  for  books  developed  early,  and  in  the  last 
years  of  the  war  we  find  him  attending  school.  Im- 


PERSONAGES  OF  THE  AFRO-AMERICAN  RACE.  519 

mediately  after  the  war,  he  had  the  privilege  of  sitting 
as  pupil  under  the  "  Yankee  school  marm. "  To  him, 
as  to  so  many  others,  the  quickening  of  the  heart  was 
also  the  quickening  of  the  brain.  Converted  at  eigh- 
teen, he  became  the  more  desirous  to  enlarge  his 
mental  vision,  and  fit  himself  for  service  to  his  race  in 
the  large  field  opened  up  by  emancipation.  Conse- 
quently, he  entered,  in  his  native  city,  the  Augusta 
Institute,  where  he  spent  several  years.  Subse- 
quently, on  the  removal  of  that  institution  to  Atlanta, 
under  the  changed  name  of  the  Atlanta  Baptist 
Seminary,  Mr.  Holmes  followed  it,  and  in  a  few  years 
was  graduated  from  it.  The  best  proof,  perhaps,  of 
his  worthiness  is  seen  in  the  fact  that  on  graduation 
he  was  given  a  position  in  the  seminary,  which  he  has 
held  up  to  1899  with  efficiency  and  honor.  His  degree 
of  Master  of  Arts  is  from  the  University  of  Chicago. 

Personally,  Professor  Holmes  is  a  royal  man.  Court- 
eous, kind,  obliging,  free  from  the  ambition  that  is 
always  "o'erleaping  itself,"  ever  ready  to  contribute 
to  the  happiness  of  others,  he  becomes  an  object  of 
love  and  esteem  wherever  known.  In  his  home  life 
he  has  been  blessed  with  the  companionship  of  a 
devoted  and  sympathetic  partner,  formerly  Miss  Eliza- 
beth Easley,  a  graduate  of  Atlanta  University,  but 
now  the  proud  mother  of  several  intelligent  children. 

Prof.  John  Wesley  Gilbert,  A.  M.— The  subject  of 
this  sketch  was  born  July  6,  1864,  in  Hephzibah, 
Richmond  county,  Georgia.  His  mother,  herself  a 
slave,  brought  the  young  Gilbert,  when  six  months 
old,  to  Augusta,  the  city  which,  with  little  interrup- 
tion, has  been  his  home  as  well  as  the  scene  of  his 
early  struggles  for  a  livelihood  and  an  education.  The 
only  son  of  a  widow,  he  was  nursed  in  the  arms  of 


520  PROGRESS    OF    A    RACE. 

poverty.  "Six  months  of  the  year,"  to  use  his  own 
words,  "I  ploughed,  hoed,  picked  cotton,  split  rails, 
and  spent  the  other  six  months  in  the  public  schools 
of  Augusta."  In  this  and  other  honorable  ways  he 
supported  himself  and  helped  his  mother. 

Having  completed  the  work  of  the  public  schools, 
he  attended  for  some  months  the  Baptist  Seminary,  in 
his  own  city,  but  for  lack  of  means  was  obliged  to 
withdraw  from  the  school  for  three  years.  At  this 
period  in  his  life  he  began  to  despair  of  securing  a 
liberal  education.  Nevertheless,  he  kept  up  his 
studies,  working  by  day  and  perusing  books  by  night. 
In  the  year  1883,  the  "Paine  Institute,"  under  the 
patronage  of  the  Methodist  Church,  South,  opened  in 
Augusta.  This  Mr.  Gilbert  attended  for  three  years, 
or  rather  for  six  months  in  each  of  three  years. 
About  this  time  Rev.  George  Williams  Walker  became 
president  of  the  Institute — a  noble-hearted  Christian 
man,  and  as  sincere  a  friend  as  the  Negro  ever  had. 
This  gentleman  became  interested  in  Mr.  Gilbert,  and 
after  his  graduation  from  the  institute  loaned  him 
money  enough  to  enter  Brown  University,  Providence, 
Rhode  Island.  This  money  was  supplemented  by  such 
as  he  could  earn  while  a  student.  He  shoveled  snow 
in  the  winter,  taught  pupils  at  night,  availed  himself 
of  every  opportunity  to  gain  "an  honest  dollar."  To 
his  very  great  credit,  it  should  be  said  that,  notwith- 
standing this  extra  demand  upon  his  time  and  strength, 
he  maintained  a  uniformly  high  standing  in  his  classes, 
and,  upon  his  graduation  from  the  classical  course,  was 
awarded  the  scholarship  for  "excellence"  in  Greek  in 
the  American  School  at  Athens,  Greece.  He  was  the 
first  and  only  Negro  admitted  to  that  school.  He 
traveled  all  over  Greece,  took  part  in  the  excavations 


PERSONAGES  OF  THE  AFRO-AMERICAN  RACE.  521 

in  Eretria,  carried  on  by  the  school  during  the  session 
of  1890-91,  contributed  accounts  of  that  year's  excava- 
tions to  the  New  York  Independent,  found  and  traced 
the  ancient  walls  of  Eretria,  locating  the  towers  of 
that  structure,  made,  in  collaboration  with  Professor 
Pickard,  a  map  of  ancient  Eretria,  and  wrote  a  thesis 
on  the  Demes  of  Attica.  Before  returning  to  his 
native  land,  Professor  Gilbert  visited  all  the  largest 
and  most  important  cities  of  Europe,  getting  thus  a 
comprehensive  view  of  the  customs,  manners  and 
political  systems  of  that  ancient  land — the  nursery  of 
arms,  the  prolific  mother  of  arts  and  sciences.  In 
recognition  of  his  work  in  Greece,  Brown  University 
conferred  on  him,  in  1891,  the  degree  of  Master  of 
Arts. 

With  the  exception  of  the  time  spent  in  Europe,  Pro- 
fessor Gilbert  has  taught  in  Paine  Institute  since  1888. 
Affable,  kind-hearted,  sympathetic,  he  wins  admira- 
tion and  respect  among  all  classes.  To  the  responsi- 
ble duties  of  teacher  he  has  now  added  those  of 
preacher,  being  at  present  a  minister  in  the  Colored 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in  America.  Few  young 
men  have  achieved  as  much,  and  few  have  a  brighter 
future. 

To  close  this  sketch,  however,  without  referring  to 
the  gentle  partner  of  his  life  would  be  like  leaving 
Hamlet  out  of  Hamlet.  In  the  spring  of  1889  he  was 
happily  and  pleasantly  married  to  Miss  Osceola  K. 
Pleasant,  a  young  lady  of  one  of  the  best  families  in 
Augusta.  Educated  at  Fisk  University,  she  also  holds 
a  diploma  from  Paine  Institute.  To  this  true  and 
affectionate  helpmeet,  the  fond  mother  of  his  chil- 
dren, he  is  indebted  for  no  small  degree  of  his  success, 
for  every  true  wife  is  an  inspiration  to  her  husband. 


522  PROGRESS   OF    A    RACE. 

In  conclusion,  we  are  happy  to  say  that,  while 
penning  this  sketch,  the  announcement  is  made  that 
Professor  John  Wesley  Gilbert  has  recently  been 
elected  a  member  of  the  American  Philological  Associ- 
ation. 

President  J.  C.  Price,  D.  D.,  Livingstone  College.— 
We  take  the  following  extracts  from  the  memorial 
address  given  by  President  Goler,  the  successor  of 
President  Price: 

President  Price  was  born  in  North  Carolina,  in  the 
dark  days  when  the  outlook  for  Negro  development 
was  exceedingly  discouraging.  Emancipation  and 
the  opening  of  the  schools  to  all  classes  found  him  a 
lad  of  nine  years  in  the  eager  pursuit  of  the  rudiments 
of  knowledge,  under  the  care  and  keeping  of  a  self- 
denying  Christian  mother,  who  early  instilled  in  his 
mind  those  principles  which  subsequently  developed 
into  that  manly  deportment,  that  uprightness  of  char- 
acter, that  geniality  and  pliability  of  disposition  which 
captivated  his  companions  and  made  him  everywhere 
a  favorite.  It  was  while  still  a  youth,  studying  law 
in  Shaw  University  at  Raleigh,  that  it  pleased  God  to 
reveal  Himself  to  him.  He  sought  and  found  salva- 
tion in  the  crucified  Redeemer,  was  saved  by  the 
working  of  the  mighty  power,  and  experienced  the  joy 
that  comes  from  believing.  Soon  after  his  conversion, 
he  felt  that  necessity  was  laid  upon  him  to  preach  the 
gospel,  to  lift  up  Jesus  by  his  voice  as  well  as  in  his 
exemplary  life,  and  so  for  better  preparation  he 
entered  Lincoln  University  in  Pennsylvania  in  1875. 
It  was  there  I  first  met  to  admire  and  afterward  to  love 
him.  Lincoln  is  a  Presbyterian  institution,  but  opens 
wide  her  doors  to  all  creeds  and  all  colors.  He  was  a 
Methodist,  and  brought  with  him  to  the  university 


PERSONAGES  OF  THE  AFRO- AMERICAN  RACE.  523 

some  of  the  distinguishing  characteristics  of  that 
denomination.  He  invariably  absented  himself  from 
the  dining  hall  on  Fridays,  and  spent  the  time  in  fast- 
ing and  prayer.  As  a  student,  he  was  docile,  obedient 
to  his  instructors,  courteous  to  his  companions,  true  to 
his  books,  honest  in  the  class-room,  industrious  in  his 
studies  and  punctual  at  the  prayer  meeting.  He 
exerted  a  healthy  influence  in  the  institution.  He 
was  one  of  those  whom  we  find  occasionally,  yet 
rarely,  in  all  schools,  a  model  young  man.  It  was 
while  finishing  up  his  course  in  theology  that  Bishop 
Hood,  quick  to  see  what  is  in  a  young  man,  and  recog- 
nizing his  rare  qualities  of  head  and  heart,  ordained 
him  to  the  order  of  deacon,  and  finally  of  elder  in  the 
A.  M.  E.  Zion  Church.  He  was  subsequently  elected 
to  the  general  conference  of  1880.  There,  coming  in 
contact  with  the  superior  minds  of  the  general  church, 
his  gifts  and  graces  were  recognized  and  readily  appre- 
ciated and  here  won  for  himself  the  distinguished 
honor  of  representing,  with  others,  the  A.  M.  E. 
Church  at  the  ecumenical  conference  in  England  in 
1 88 1.  His  efforts  there  laid  the  foundation  of  Living- 
stone College.  This  work  was  near  his  heart  and  in 
its  interest,  as  one  of  the  means  of  race  elevation,  he 
spent  the  energies  of  his  short  but  eventful  life.  He 
was  no  self-seeker.  He  did  not  labor  for  the  notice 
of  society  or  the  prizes  of  the  world,  but  the  one  con- 
trolling idea  of  his  life  was  to  lift  his  race  out  of  the 
ignorance  and  moral  degradation  into  which  the  mis- 
fortune of  a  cruel  past  had  sunk  them,  and  to  lead 
them  to  higher  planes  of  intelligence  and  social  refine- 
ment. He  was  forcible  in  his  appeals  for  justice  and 
fair  dealing ;  honest  in  his  statements,  and  true  to  his 
convictions,  yet  he  carried  no  gall  in  his  nature.  No 


524  PROGRESS   OF    A   RACE. 

bitterness  escaped  his  lips.  There  was  no  rancor  in 
his  bosom.  He  had  faith  in  the  power  of  Christ  to 
eradicate  the  evils  of  society.  He  believed  in  the  ulti- 
mate triumph  of  truth  and  righteousness  and  was 
satisfied  that  the  evils  of  society  will  be  rooted  out, 
when  men  receive  the  power  of  Christ  in  their  hearts 
rather  than  the  knowledge  of  Jesus  in  their  heads. 

As  president  of  this  institution  he  governed  by  love. 
He  held  his  teachers  about  him  in  hearty  co-operation 
with  all  his  plans.  They  stood  by  him,  not  because 
they  received  their  pay — for  there  was  not  and  is  not 
much  pay  here — but  because  they  loved  the  president. 
I  remember  a  letter  he  wrote  to  a  friend  to  teach  here 
with  him  at  the  beginning  of  this  work,  and  here  is 
the  inducement  he  offered:  "We  are  just  starting  the 
work.  I  cannot  promise  you  any  pay  the  first  year, 
but  after  that  some  provision  will  be  made. ' '  With 
this  not  over-bright  prospect,  two  teachers,  who  are 
still  in  the  institution,  came  to  him. 

It  pained  him  to  send  a  needy  student  away,  and  so 
large  was  his  heart  and  so  sympathetic  withal,  that 
none  appealed  to  him  in  vain,  even  to  the  denying 
himself  of  home  necessities. 

He  was  devoted  to  his  work,  he  apprehended  that 
God  had  called  him  to  it,  and  no  inducement  could 
draw  him  away.  Men,  recognizing  the  great  powers 
of  oratory  and  the  logical  acumen  with  which  God 
endowed  him,  urged  him  to  seek  for  himself  honors  in 
the  paths  of  politics,  and  pave  his  way  to  the  legisla- 
tive halls  of  the  nation.  The  President  of  the  repub- 
lic, appreciating  his  ability  and  his  moral  worth, 
appointed  him  to  a  post  of  honor  in  a  foreign  country. 
There  was  money  in  it,  and  he  needed  money,  there 
was  honor  in  it,  and  men  love  honor,  but  he  refused 


PERSONAGES  OF  THE  AFRO-AMERICAN  RACE.  525 

the  honor  and  the  emolument,  preferring  to  labor  for 
his  little  school  in  North  Carolina,  simply  remarking-, 
"I  think  I  can  do  more  good  in  Salisbury."  The 
honors  that  have  come  to  him,  both  at  home  and 
abroad,  would  have  had  an  inflating  effect  upon  the 
self-seeker  and  the  egotist.  But  who  ever  saw  Price 
inflated?  Who  ever  charged  Price  with  egotism? 
If  there  was  one  thing  that  particularly  character- 
ized him,  it  was  modesty ;  he  was  as  unassuming 
as  a  little  child.  As  we  stand  off  and  hold  up  his 
qualities,  oh,  how  they  loom !  He  envied  no  man  his 
gifts  or  his  prosperity,  but  unostentatiously  endeav- 
ored to  do  his  own  work  faithfully  and  well.  An 
undisputed  leader  of  his  people,  he  came  to  them 
always  in  the  character  of  a  helper,  and  appeared  un- 
conscious of  his  leadership.  Where  is  there  a  greater 
Negro  than  Price?  Great,  not  in  the  sense  that  men 
ordinarily  estimate  greatness,  but  great  in  goodness, 
great  in  devotion  to  duty,  great  in  his  faith  in  the  possi- 
bilities of  the  future  for  the  race,  great  in  his  concep- 
tion of  individual  responsibilities,  great  in  his  humility 
and  unshaken  faith  in  the  living  God.  Frederick 
Douglass  calls  him  "the  ablest  advocate  of  the  race." 
And  Price  is  dead.  How  befitting  the  words  of  David, 
"Know  ye  not  that  there  is  a  prince  and  a  great  man 
fallen  this  day  in  Israel?" 

Miss  Lucy  Laney. — There  is  probably  no  one  of  all 
the  educators  of  the  colored  race  who  stands  higher, 
or  who  has  done  more  work  in  pushing  forward  the 
education  of  the  Negro  woman,  than  the  subject  of  our 
sketch.  Miss  Laney  is  a  graduate  of  Atlanta  Uni- 
versity, and,  after  graduation,  she  taught  school  in  a 
number  of  places  in  Georgia.  Relinquishing  a  salary 
of  $400  a  year  in  1886,  she  went  to  Augusta  for  the 


52C  PROGRESS   OF    A    RACE. 

purpose  of  establishing  an  industrial  boarding  school. 
No  aid  was  promised  her,  but  she  went  forward  and 
became  responsible  for  the  support  of  the  teachers 
and  the  expense  of  the  institution.  The  first  year  her 
school  enrolled  140  pupils.  It  has  steadily  increased 
in  power  and  influence,  as  well  as  numbers,  from  the 
first.  It  is,  at  present,  under  the  auspices  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church,  and  through  the  benevolence  of 
a  Northern  lady,  a  five- story  brick  building  has  been 
erected.  Miss  Laney's  assistants,  Miss  Jackson,  Miss 
Smallwood  and  Mrs.  Mary  R.  Phelps,  are  competent 
teachers,  and  together  they  are  doing  a  great  work  in 
that  part  of  the  state.  Dr.  George  C.  Rowe  puts  it 
in  this  way: 

"Among  the  women  of  our  race 
We  know  of  few,  if  any, 

Who  fill  a  nobler,  worthier  place — 
Than  earnest  Lucy  Laney." 

Miss  Laney,  who  conceived  the  idea  of  founding  this 
school  for  the  uplifting  of  the  Negro  woman,  and  who 
began  it  on  her  own  responsibility,  has  succeeded  in  a 
remarkable  manner.  Haines  Normal  and  Industrial 
Institute  has  two  departments,  a  normal  and  a  college 
preparatory.  The  normal  department  prepares  the 
students  for  teachers.  This  department  is  ably  presid- 
ed over  by  Miss  M.  C.  Jackson,  who  in  her  training 
class  succeeds  admirably  in  making  practical  teachers. 
The  college  department  fits  young  men  and  women  so 
that  they  are  able  to  pass  entrance  examinations  in 
our  best  colleges. 

Haines  Normal  Institute  and  its  noble  workers,  Miss 
Laney  and  Miss  Jackson,  are  doing  a  great  and  good 
work  in  Augusta.  This  is  the  only  Presbyterian 
school  for  the  colored  in  Georgia.  It  deserves  what 
it  is  receiving — the  liberal  support  of  the  church. 


PERSONAGES  OF  THE  AFRO- AMERICAN  RACE.  527 

Margaret  Murry  Washington  was  born  in  Macon, 
Mississippi,  March  9,  1865,  being  one  of  ten  children. 
Here  she  received  her  early  English  education.  After 
spending  nine  years  at  Fisk  University,  in  1889  she 
graduated  from  the  classical  course  in  that  institution, 
one  other  girl  and  herself  being  the  only  girls  in  a 
large  class  of  boys.  While  in  school  Margaret  Murry 
had  very  poor  health,  and  the  same  ambitious  spirit 
and  iron  will  that  now  master  her  physical  weakness 
pulled  her  through  the  long  years  of  study  during  her 
college  course. 

When  she  graduated  from  Fisk  University  she  was 
employed  as  teacher  of  English  literature  at  the  Tusk- 
egee  Normal  and  Industrial  Institute.  Recognizing 
exceptional  strength  of  mind  and  disciplinary  power, 
the  trustees  of  the  above  mentioned  institution  the 
next  year  appointed  her  Lady  Principal,  which  position 
she  so  well  filled  that  now  many  matters  naturally 
falling  to  the  duties  of  the  lady  principal  are  carried 
to  Mrs.  Washington  both  by  teachers  and  students. 
She  not  only  in  position,  as  the  wife  of  the  principal 
of  the  institution,  but  in  reality,  stands  next  to  him  in 
power  and  influence. 

In  the  fall  of  1892  Margaret  Murry  became  the  wife 
of  Booker  T.  Washington,  and  is  a  power  in  the  home 
as  well  as  in  the  public.  Her  boys,  the  youngest  of 
which  was  three  years  old  when  she  went  into  their 
home,  are  as  fond  of  her  as  any  boys  are  of  their 
own  mother. 

As  to  personal  appearance,  Mrs.  Washington  is  a 
mulatto,  with  reddish-brown  hair,  gray  hazel  eyes, 
strong  features,  and  a  large,  commanding  figure. 

Mrs.  Washington  is  the  leader  of  the  movement  to 
work  directly  for  and  among  the  less  fortunate  class 


528  PROGRESS    OF    A    RACE. 

of  the  Negro  race,  and  has  promoted  social  settlement, 
organizations  and  various  other  clubs  and  movements 
looking  to  the  elevation  mentally,  and  especially 
morally,  of  the  women  of  her  race. 

There  are  few  women  who  have  so  strong  a  person- 
ality as  Mrs.  Washington,  which  power  directs  while 
others  execute  her  commands. 

Mrs.  Booker  T.  Washington  has  the  honor  of  being 
the  first  president  of  the  National  Federation  of 
Colored  Women's  Clubs,  now  the  National  Association 
of  Colored  Women. 

Prof.  W.  E.  Burghardt  Dubois  was  born  in  Great  Bar- 
rington,  Massachusetts,  February  23,  1868.  He  was 
educated  in  the  public  schools,  and  at  Fisk  University, 
Harvard  University  and  the  university  at  Berlin.  He 
was  two  years  a  fellow  of  Harvard,  and  holds  her 
degree  of  Ph.  D.  He  taught  at  Wilberforce,  Ohio, 
two  years,  and  was  assistant  in  sociology  in  the 
University  of  Pennsylvania  in  1896,  for  the  purpose  of 
studying  the  Negro  in  Philadelphia.  He  is  at  pres- 
ent professor  of  economics  and  history  in  Atlanta 
University.  Professor  Dubois  is  the  author  of  ^Sup- 
pression of  the  African  Slave  Trade,"  also  '* Harvard 
Historical  Students,  No.  i."  He  was  married  in  1896 
to  Nina  Gomer,  of  Cedar  Rapids,  Iowa.  Of  his  ap- 
pointment as  professor  in  Atlanta  University  the 
Independent  says:  "We  are  very  glad  that  this  insti- 
tution, devoted  to  the  education  of  colored  people,  has 
elected  to  so  important  a  professorship  a  thoroughly 
competent  colored  man." 

Prof.  0.  W.  Luckie  graduated  from  the  college 
department  of  Atlanta  University  in  the  class  of  1883. 
He  went  directly  .to  Texas,  spending  four  years  as 
principal  of  the  colored  schools  of  Huntsville.  Then 


PERSONAGES  OF  THE  AFRO-AMERICAN  RACE. 

he  was  elected  to  the  professorship  of  English  in 
Prairie  View  State  Normal  School,  which  position  he 
has  since  held  to  the  satisfaction  of  all.  With  such  a 
grand  field  as  Texas  in  which  to  labor,  Professor 
Luckie  may  look  for  laurels  yet  unearned. 

Prof.  Wm.  Lewis  Bulkley.— The  subject  of  this 
sketch  was  born  of  free  parents  in  Greenville,  South 
Carolina,  on  the  23d  day  of  March,  1861. 

His  father,  Vincent  Henry,  and  his  mother,  Madora, 
being  also  of  free  parentage,  had  enjoyed  educational 
advantages  before  the  war.  Vincent  Henry  Bulkley 
became,  shortly  after  the  war,  a  Methodist  Episcopal 
clergyman,  and  remained  in  the  service  of  this  church 
as  one  of  its  most  faithful  ministers  till  the  day  of  his 
death.  He  was  sent  as  a  delegate  to  the  Ecumenical 
Conference  of  Methodism,  which  met  in  London, 
England,  in  1881. 

The  parents  of  William  Lewis,  having  "  tasted  of 
the  Pierian  spring,"  had  a  consuming  desire  that  at 
least  their  eldest  son  should  "drink  deep,"  and  began 
by  sending  him  to  school  at  a  very  early  age. 

His  earliest  recollections  of  school  life  are  a  poor 
frame  building,  with  an  old,  gray-haired  Negro  school- 
master, who  had  picked  up  a  little  "larnin*  *fo*  de 
wah. ' '  The  curriculum  in  this  institution  was  a  Web- 
ster's blue-back  speller  (a  species  fast  becoming 
extinct).  The  magic  wand  that  made  the  pupils  look 
studious  and  " wondrous  wise"  was  a  well-grown 
hickory  switch,  an  article  that  was  neither  an  orna- 
ment or  a  mere  scarecrow,  as  the  back  of  more  than 
one  dullard  can  testify.  In  fact,  that  period  of  life 
was  to  William  "the  reign  of  terror." 

From  this  school  he  passed  into  one  taught  by  some 
Northern  missionaries,  whose  great-heartedness  had 

34  Progress. 


PkoGkfcss  of  A  RACE. 

brought  them  into  that  dark  section  of  South  Carolina. 
Prominent  among  these  early  teachers  were  Rev.  L. 
M.  Dunton  and  wife,  of  New  York  state,  two  of  the 
most  faithful  workers  that  ever  came  to  help  degraded 
mankind.  By  a  strange  ordering  of  fate,  he  is  asso- 
ciated at  present  with  these  last  two  persons  in  Claflin 
University. 

At  sixteen  he  began  to  teach  in  the  public  schools 
of  his  state,  when  scholars  were  legion,  books  were 
few  and  salaries  were  mere  promissory  notes. 

In  1878  he  entered  Claflin  University,  where,  through 
the  assistance  of  self-sacrificing  parents,  and  whatever 
work  he  could  get  to  do  at  the  school,  he  continued  in 
study  four  years,  finishing  in  1882  as  the  first  college 
graduate. 

He  taught  two  years  in  his  Alma  Mater,  and  then 
went,  in  1884,  to  Wesleyan  University,  Middletown, 
Connecticut.  At  this,  the  best  institution  of  learning 
in  the  Methodist  Church,  he  paid  his  expenses  by 
different  jobs,  and  by  what  money  he  could  raise 
during  vacations  in  a  hard  canvass  for  nursery  goods, 
pictures,  or  steam  cookers. 

It  often  affords  amusement  to  him  to  tell  of  how  he 
cooked  his  own  meals,  consisting  largely  of  oatmeal  or 
pancakes,  at  an  outlay  of  10  cents  a  day,  and  how  he 
used  to  wash  such  of  his  clothes  as  did  not  need  starch 
and  hang  them  by  the  stove  to  dry.  He  saved  many 
a  nickel  by  folding  his  rough-dried  handkerchiefs  in  a 
book  and  then  sitting  upon  it,  while  he  "ground" 
trigonometry  or  tackled  the  mysteries  of  logic. 

The  death  of  a  devoted  father  precipitated  his  return 
to  South  Carolina.  He  resumed  work  at  Claflin,  and 
has  taught  there  ever  since,  save  a  year  and  a  half 
which  he  spent  with  his  wife  and  child  in  study  at 
Strassburg,  Germany,  and  Paris. 


PERSONAGES  OF  THE  AFRO-AMERICAN  RACE.  531 

In  1893  he  completed  his  "in  absentia"  study  of  the 
Latin  language  and  literature  at  Syracuse  University, 
Syracuse,  New  York,  and  received  the  degree  of  Ph.  D. 
Professor  Smalley,  of  the  Latin  department,  says: 
"I  have  been  well  pleased  with  Professor  Bulkley's 
work.  He  has  the  spirit  of  an  investigator,  and  of  an 
independent  thinker,  that  refuses  to  accept  the  con- 
clusions of  editors  without  a  careful  examination  of 
the  reasons  for  himself.  He  has  done  much  work  on 
the  literature,  and  toward  mastering  the  principles  of 
the  languages,  and  shows  excellent  ability  in  grasping 
the  thought  of  an  author,  and  has  unusual  facility  in 
rendering  into  idiomatic  English." 

Professor  Bulkley's  forte  is  in  the  field  of  languages. 
In  addition  to  the  Latin  and  Greek,  he  has  spent 
some  time  in  the  study  of  French,  German  and 
Spanish. 

In  reviewing  a  new  French  book  for  English  stu- 
dents, he  detected  an  error  which  was  subtle  and  mis- 
leading. He  called  the  attention  of  the  author  to  the 
fact,  and  received  a  long  reply,  from  which  the  follow- 
ing is  clipped :  "I  shall  certainly  introduce  this  excep- 
tion in  subsequent  editions  of  the  French  book,  and 
wish  to  thank  you  for  bringing  this  omission,  singu- 
larly committed  by  so  many  of  the  highest  authorities, 
and  most  complete  books  and  dictionaries,  to  my 
attention. ' ' 

Professor  Bulkley  was  elected  to  the  World's  Sunday 
School  Convention  which  met  in  London,  England, 
in  1889,  and  was  also  a  delegate  to  the  General  Con- 
ference of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  at  Cleve- 
land, Ohio,  in  1896.  In  1888,  he  married  Mary  Fisher 
Carroll,  of  Columbia,  South  Carolina,  an  honor 
graduate  of  Claflin.  Three  promising  little  girls  now 
bless  their  happy 


PROGRESS   OF    A    RACE. 


He  is  a  member  of  the  American  Philological  Asso- 
ciation. His  present  position  is  the  professorship  of 
Latin  and  Greek  and  the  vice-presidency  in  Claflin 
University,  Orangeburg,  South  Carolina. 


BISHOP  L.  H.  HOLSEY,  D.  D. 


MINISTERS. 


L.  H.  Holsey,  D.  D.,  Bishop  C.  M.  E.  Church,  was 
born  in  the  state  of  Georgia,  July  3,  1842,  near  the 
city  of  Columbus.  His  mother  was  the  slave  of 
James  Holsey,  who  was  also  his  father.  His  mother 


PERSONAGES  OF  THE  AFRO-AMERICAN  RACE.  533 

• 

was  of  African  descent,  and  of  pure  blood  of  that 
race,  with  fine  form  and  features.  When  he  was 
about  seven  years  of  age,  his  father  and  first  master 
died. 

He  was  then  taken  away  from  his  mother,  and 
never  lived  with  her  again,  except  about  three  or  four 
years,  during  which  time  she  lived  on  the  same  place 
in  Hancock  county  that  he  did  with  his  second  owner. 
In  1857,  Mr.  T.  L.  Wynn,  his  second  owner,  died, 
and  he  became  the  servant  of  Col.  R.  M.  Johnstone, 
who  resided  in  the  same  place.  He  lived  with  him 
until  emancipation.  The  first  three  years  after 
emancipation,  he  conducted  a  farm  in  Hancock  county, 
near  Sparta.  He  felt  that  he  was  called  to  preach 
from  his  youth,  and  the  brightest  place  in  his  memory 
is  vivid  with  the  aspirations  and  longings  that  then 
glowed  upon  his  heart,  and  framed  and  flashed  through 
his  soul.  He  was  licensed  to  preach  in  1868,  and 
served  nearly  two  years  on  the  Hancock  circuit.  On 
January  9,  1869,  he  was  sent  by  Bishop  Pierce  to 
Savannah,  Georgia,  to  serve  there  that  year.  In  1871 
he  was  sent  to  Augusta,  Georgia,  as  pastor  of  Trinity 
Church,  which  at  that  time  was  one  of  the  largest  and 
most  prominent  churches  belonging  to  the  colored 
members  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South. 
At  this  church  he  remained  two  years  and  three 
months,  at  the  end  of  which  time  (March,  1873)  he 
was  elected  to  the  Episcopal  office,  and  was  ordained 
by  Bishop  W.  H.  Miles,  one  of  the  first  bishops  of  the 
Colored  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in  America.  He 
was  a  delegate  to  the  first  General  Conference  of  his 
church,  which  convened  in  Jackson,  Tennessee,  1870, 
at  which  time  and  place  the  church  was  organized  as  a 
separate  and  distinct  organization  from  that  of  the 


534  PROGRESS   OF    A    RACE. 

Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  of  which  it  had 
formed  a  part.  He  was  delegate  to  the  first  Ecumen- 
ical Conference,  which  met  in  London  in  1881,  and 
also  a  delegate  to  the  one  that  was  held  in  Washington 
in  1891.  He  was  a  delegate,  and  the  first  delegate  of 
his  church,  to  the  Conference  of  the  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Church,  South,  held  in  Nashville,  in  1882. 

He  founded  the  Paine  Institute,  located  in  Augusta, 
and  made  the  initiatory  steps  for  the  beginning  of  the 
Lane  College,  at  Jackson,  Tennessee.  For  twenty 
years  he  has  been  secretary  of  the  College  of  Bishops, 
and  the  general  corresponding  secretary  of  the  connec- 
tion, and  perhaps  has  been  most  prominent  in  all  the 
leading  movements. of  the  church. 

He  also  compiled  the  Hymnal  and  Manual  of  the 
Discipline  of  his  church,  and  is  editor-in-chief  of  The 
Gospel  Trumpet,  a  paper  that  is  published  in  the  interest 
of  the  church  and  race.  This  paper  is  published  in 
Atlanta,  Georgia,  where  he  lives  at  present  (1897). 
In  this  year  (1897)  he  has  been  appointed  as  Commis- 
sioner of  Education  for  his  church.  He  has  been 
prominent  in  all  the  movements  connected  with  his 
church  and  race,  and  has  traveled  and  labored  success- 
fully throughout  all  parts  of  the  Southern  states,  and 
has  done  much  to  educate  and  Christianize  his 
people.  * 

Alexander  Crummell,  D.  D.,  was  born  in  New  York 
city,  March  3,  1819;  educated  with  Henry  Highland 
Garnet  at  Canaan,  New  Hampshire  (1835) ;  he  remained 
at  Canaan  till  the  school  was  broken  up  by  a  mob, 
when  he  went,  in  1836,  to  Oneida  Institute,  New 
York. 

Under  the  direction  of  Rev.  Peter  Williams,  rector 
of  St.  Phillip's  Church,  New  York,  he  became  a  candi- 


PERSONAGES   OF  THE  AFRO-AMERICAN  RACE.         535 

date  for  orders  in  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  in 
1839,  but,  on  account  of  color,  was  refused  admission 
in  the  General  Theological  Seminary. 

Having  been  ordained  deacon  by  Bishop  Griswold, 
and  having  studied  with  Rev.  Dr.  A.  H.  Vinton,  he 
was  ordained  priest  in  Philadelphia  by  Bishop  Lee  of 
Delaware.  This  was  in  1844. 

Doctor  Crummell  graduated  from  the  University  of 
Cambridge,  England,  in  1852.  Thereafter  removed  to 
Liberia,  West  Africa,  where  he  was  a  professor  and 
minister  of  the  gospel  for  twenty  years.  From  1873 
till  1894,  Doctor  Crummell  was  rector  of  St.  Luke's 
Church  in  Washington,  D.  C.  Having  retired  from 
the  ministry,  Doctor  Crummell  is  giving  himself  up  to 
work  for  the  Negro  race,  in  which  he  is  intensely 
interested. 

In  March,  1897,  at  the  formation  of  the  American 
Negro  Academy,  "an  organization  of  authors,  scholars, 
graduates  and  writers,  men  of  African  descent,  for 
the  promotion  of  letters,  art,  literature  and  science," 
Doctor  Crummell  was  chosen  president  unanimously. 

Doctor  Crummell  recently  celebrated  the  fiftieth 
anniversary  of  his  ordination.  Referring  to  his  early 
days  he  says:  "The  pro-slavery  and  caste  spirit 
dominated  the  country,  and  it  was  as  strong  in  the 
church  as  in  the  state.  Three  other  colored  candidates 
had  been  admitted  to  seminaries,  but  with  limitations 
and  indignities  to  which 'it  was  impossible  for  me  to 
submit."  Concerning  his  reception  in  England,  he 
says:  "I  was  received  in  England  with  a  generosity 
which  almost  bewildered  me  after  such  sufferings  in 
my  native  land.  I  preached  in  London,  Liverpool, 
Birmingham  and  other  cities  of  England.  This  was  a 
period  of  grand  opportunities  and  richest  experiences, 


536  PROGRESS   OF    A    RACE. 

almost  unlimited  privileges  and  cherished  remem- 
brances. I  was  introduced  into  the  best  society  of 
England,  and  made  friends  with  the  Froudes,  Thack- 
erays,  Thorntons  and  other  distinguished  gentlemen." 
He  is  a  fluent  speaker  and  writer ;  scholarly,  instruct- 
ive and  entertaining  in  all  that  he  says  and  does. 
Doctor  Crummell  stands  among  the  first  of  those  who 
have  labored  for  the  elevation  of  the  African  race.  He 
is  at  present  in  England. 

Rev.  Edward  W.  Ely  den,  A.M.,  D.D.,  LL.D.— Rev. 
Edward  Blyden  was  born  in  the  West  Indies,  he  is  of 
Negro  parentage.  Early  in  youth  he  was  impressed 
with  the  love  for  his  fatherland.  He  came  to  the 
United  States  in  his  seventeenth  year  and  sought  admis- 
sion to  an  institution  of  learning,  but  the  prejudice 
against  his  race  was  so  great  that  he  was  not  admitted. 
He  went  to  Liberia  and  there  entered  the  Presbyterian 
school,  and  after  some  years  was  elected  to  professor- 
ship in  the  newly  founded  college  of  Liberia.  In  1864 
he  was  appointed  Secretary  of  State  by  the  President 
of  Liberia.  In  1877  he  was  appointed  Minister  Pleni- 
potentiary of  the  Republic  of  Liberia  at  the  Court  of 
St.  James.  In  1880  he  was  elected  Fellow  of  the 
American  Philological  Association.  The  honorary  de- 
grees he  holds  were  conferred  upon  him  by  Ameri- 
can colleges. 

He  is  a  strong  man  and  careful  instructor,  a  diligent 
student,  and  is  constantly  seeking  new  plans  and 
methods  by  which  he  may  be  able  to  elevate  his 
people.  Dr.  Blyden  has  written  many  articles  and  is 
the  author  of  several  books.  He  has  in  his  labors 
come  in  contact  with  some  of  the  literary  men  of  his 
day. 

Bishop  Henry  M.  Turner,  of  the  A.  M.  E.  Church, 


BISHOP  HENRY   MCNEAL  TURNER,   D.   D.,  LL.  D. 


BISHOP   BENJAMIN  TUCKER  TANNER,  KANSAS  CITY,  KANSAS. 


588 


PERSONAGES  OF  THE  AFRO-AMERICAN  RACE.          539 

was  born  in  Newberry,  South  Carolina,  in  1834.  His 
parents  were  free,  but  he  was  bound  out  to  a  slave 
owner  and  was  required  to  work  side  by  side  with  slaves 
until  he  was  fifteen  years  old,  when  he  ran  away  from 
his  master  and  entered  the  service  of  a  firm  of  attor- 
neys in  Aberville.  Here  he  learned  to  read  and  write, 
often  spending  much  time  at  night  after  his  employers 
had  gone  home. 

He  was  licensed  as  a  minister  at  twenty  years  of 
age ;  he  then  entered  Trinity  college,  Baltimore,  where 
he  spent  four  years,  intending  to  go  to  Africa  after 
completing  his  education.  He  was  made  chaplain  of 
the  first  regiment  of  colored  troops.  He  was  then 
under  the  Freedman's  Bureau  service  for  a  time,  but 
the  necessity  of  religious  and  educational  work  among 
his  people  caused  him  to  resign  and  enter  the  ministry 
of  the  A.  M.  E.  Church.  He  was  once  appointed  post- 
master at  Macon,  Ga. ,  but  resigned  on  account  of  the 
opposition  of  the  white  people.  In  1880  he  was  elected 
bishop  of  the  A.  M.  E.  Church. 

Bishop  Turner  has  written  much  on  the  Negro  ques- 
tion. He  has  visited  Africa  five  times  and  organized 
conferences  in  Sierre  Leone  and  Liberia.  The  bishop 
is  a  firm  believer  in  deportation,  and  insists  his  race 
will  ultimately  return  to  Africa,  and  that  it  is  the  duty 
of  our  government  to  help  them  to  return.  He  thinks 
the  black  man  will  have  greater  opportunities,  and 
will  improve  faster  if  he  is  placed  in  a  republic  by 
himself,  and  that  this  alone  will  bring  peace  and  quiet 
to  our  country  as  far  as  the  race  question  is  concerned. 
He  insists  upon  it  that  two  races  of  people  under  the 
same  government,  the  same  institutions,  and  subject 
to  the  same  laws  with  no  social  contact  is  an  impossi- 
bility and  will  only  produce  evil  results. 


540 


PROGRESS   OF    A    RACE. 


Bishop  B.  W.  Arnett.— Bishop  B.  W.  Arnett's  boy- 
hood days  were  spent  on  a  farm  in  Pennsylvania,  where 
he  had  figured  as  a  cow  boy;  afterward  he  took  to 

steamboat  life  until 
1856.  In  1864  he  com- 
menced the  study  of 
the  ministry,  and  in 
1865  he  was  licensed  to 
preach,  and  received 
as  his  first  appoint- 
ment Walnut  Hills' 
Church,  Cincinnati, 
Ohio.  He  was  a  dele- 
gate to  the  Interna- 
tional Convention  of 
the  Young  Men's 
Christian  Association 
in  Washington  in  1871, 
where  he  delivered  an 
address  upon  "  The 

Stand  the  W.    M.  C.  A.  Takes  in  Relation  to  Colored 
Young  Men." 

He  served  in  the  lower  house  of  the  Ohio  Legislature 
in  1876  two  years;  in  1876  he  was  elected  secretary  of 
the  General  Conference  of  the  A.  M.  E.  Church,  at 
Atlanta,  Georgia. 

Bishop  Arnett  is  an  entertaining  speaker  and  stands 
high  in  the  estimation  of  his  people. 

Bishop  Benjamin  Tucker  Tanner  was  born  in  Pitts- 
burg,  December  25,  1835.  Studied  at  Avery  College 
and  Western  University,  Allegheny,  Pennsylvania; 
entered  ministry  in  1860;  editor  of  Christian  Recorder 
from  1868  to  1884;  then  elected  editor  of  A.  M.  E. 
Church  Review  till  his  election  to  the  Bishopric,  in 


BISHOP    B.  W.  ARNETT. 


PERSONAGES  OF  THE  AFRO-AMERICAN  RACE. 


541 


1888,  of  the  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  He 
is  author  of  "Apology  for  African  Methodism,"  "Out- 
line of  History,"  "Negro  Origin,"  "Theological 
Lectures,"  "The  Color  of  Solomon,"  "Is  the  Negro 
Cursed?"  etc.  He  is  a  contributor  to  numerous  jour- 


. 


REV.  HENRY  HUGH   PROCTOR. 


nals,  among  them  the  Independent.  He  now  presides 
over  the  district  including  Kansas,  Missouri,  Colorado, 
Nebraska,  Wyoming,  Montana  and  New  Mexico. 

Henry  Hugh  Proctor,  B.A.,  B.D.— In  a  one-room  log 
cabin,  ante-bellum  in  type,  near  Fayetteville,  Ten- 


542  PROGRESS    OF    A    RACE. 

nessee;  the  subject  of  our  sketch  was  born,  December 
8,  1868.  Ten  years  were  spent  on  the  farm.  To  get 
better  school  advantages,  the  family  moved  to  town. 
After  going  through  the  public  schools,  he  began  to 
teach.  Later  he  became  principal  of  the  school  of  his 
native  town. 

In  the  fall  of  1884  he  entered  Fisk  University,  Nash- 
ville, Tennessee.  By  digging,  type-setting,  teaching 
and  preaching,  he  helped  pay  his  way.  During  his 
course  he  was,  among  other  things,  society  president, 
college  paper  editor,  and  intercollegiate  oratorical  con- 
testant. At  Fisk  he  experienced  a  call  to  preach,  and 
began  to  exercise  his  talents  in  the  vicinity  of  the 
university.  On  the  completion  of  his  literary  course 
in  1891,  he  entered  the  Divinity  School  of  Yale  Uni- 
versity, New  Haven,  Connecticut.  He  spoke  and 
sung  his  way  through  Yale,  and  during  his  three  years 
of  study  in  the  East  he  was  heard  in  many  of  the 
leading  churches  of  New  England.  His  classmates 
chose  him  among  the  eight  out  of  a  class  of  thirty  to 
deliver  commencement  addresses,  and  to  him  the 
faculty  assigned  the  coveted  post  of  honor,  that  of 
delivering  the  final  oration  of  the  day.  He  was  the 
first  Negro  to  speak  at  a  Yale  commencement,  and  his 
address  on  the  African's  forthcoming  contribution  of 
love  to  Christianity  was  widely  published. 

Called  to  the  pastorate  of  the  First  Congregational 
Church  of  Atlanta,  Georgia,  he  entered  the  practical 
work  of  the  ministry  immediately  after  his  graduation. 
After  three  years  of  hard  and  tactful  labor  the  church, 
which  had  been  somewhat  disintegrated,  secured  a 
firm  financial  footing,  and  doubled  its  membership, 
thus  becoming  the  largest  Congregational  church  in 
the  South.  The  pastor  is  broad  but  aggressive 


PERSONAGES  OF  THE  AFRO- AMERICAN  RACE.  5i3 

liberal  but  positive  in  his  views  on  social  and  religious 
questions.  In  his  preaching  he  deals  with  questions  of 
practical  Christianity  with  simplicity.  He  is  frequently 
called  upon  to  make  addresses  on  popular  occasions 
throughout  the  state.  He  is  correspondent  for  a 
number  of  first-class  Northern  periodicals.  In  connec- 
tion with  the  publication  of  an  article  from  his  pen, 
the  Boston  Congregatio7ialist  says  of  him:  "He  is  one  of 
the  best  equipped  and  trained  of  the  Afro- American 
clergymen  in  the  South,  and  is  an  orator  of  much 
promise. ' ' 

Rev.  Francis  J.  Grimke  was  born  in  Charleston,  S. 
C.,  in  1850;  came  North  in  1865,  and  entered  Lincoln 
University  in  1866,  from  which  he  graduated  in  1870; 
studied  law  three  years,  and  then  decided  to  enter  the 
ministry ;  entered  Princeton  Theological  Seminary  in 
the  fall  of  1875,  and  graduated  in  1878.  He  immedi- 
ately afterwards  became  pastor  of  the  Fifteenth  Street 
Presbyterian  Church  in  Washington,  D.  C. ,  where  he 
continued  until  the  fall  of  1885.  Owing  to  failing 
health,  he  resigned  his  charge,  and  accepted  a  call  to 
the  Laura  Street  Presbyterian  Church  of  Jacksonville, 
Florida,  where  he  continued  to  labor  until  the  winter 
of  1889.  His  health  having  improved,  he  accepted  a 
call  to  return  to  the  church  in  Washington,  where  he 
has  been  ever  since. 

Bishop  James  Walker  Hood,  D.D.,  LL.D.—  Doctor 
Hood  is  the  oldest  Negro  bishop  in  the  world.  He 
was  elected  bishop  by  the  American  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Zion  Church  at  Charlotte,  North  Carolina,  in 
1872.  The  church  has  ordered  a  celebration  of  the 
bishop's  episcopal  labors.  An  extended  programme 
has  been  prepared  by  a  committee  of  which  R.  S. 
Rives  is  chairman.  This  anniversary  was  celebrated 
September  18,  1897%^ 


544  PROGRESS    OF    A    RACE. 

Bishop  C.  R.  Harris  was  born  in  Fayetteville,  North 
Carolina.  His  father  died  when  he  was  three  years 
old,  and  left  his  widow  with  ten  children.  The  mother, 
at  once  finding  that  the  discussion  of  slavery  was  det- 
rimental to  free  colored  people  in  the  South,  sold  out 
her  little  property,  and  went  to  Ohio,  where  Harris 
was  educated  in  good  schools,  and  when  the  war  closed 
Robert  and  Cicero  Harris  were  among  the  first  to 
enter  the  field  in  the  South.  They  went  to  Fayette- 
ville, and  established  a  colored  school  under  the 
auspices  of  the  American  Missionary  Association. 
Through  their  efforts  an  appropriation  was  secured 
from  the  Freedman's  Bureau,  and  a  two-story  school 
building  was  erected.  Afterwards  Governor  Vance 
visited  the  school,  and  at  his  suggestion  the  legislature 
established  this,  the  first  colored  state  normal  school. 
Rev.  J.  W.  Smith,  the  able  editor  of  the  Star  of  Zion, 
Charlotte,  North  Carolina,  was  a  pupil  in  this  school 
when  Governor  Vance  visited  it,  and  he  gave  several 
figures  on  the  blackboard  in  multiplication,  division 
and  fractions  for  Mr.  Smith  to  solve,  and  encouraged 
him  by  saying  he  would  make  a  good  bookkeeper. 
Professor  C.  R.  Harris  taught  at  Fayetteville  until 
1872,  when  he  took  charge  of  a  public  school  at  Char- 
lotte. Later  he  was  connected  -with  what  is  now  Liv- 
ingstone College,  and  assisted  much  in  building  up 
that  institution  in  its  early  days.  In  1880  he  was 
elected  Bishop  of  the  A.  M.  E.  Zion  Church.  He  has 
been  a  member  of  every  general  conference  since  1876, 
and  as  an  educator  he  stands  high.  His  success  in 
Episcopal  work  has  been  as  pronounced  as  in  other 
fields  of  labor  in  which  he  has  worked. 

Howard  University  conferred  upon  him  the  degree 
of  Doctor  of  Divinity  in  1881.  A  person  must  merit 


PERSONAGES  Of  THE  AFRO- AMERICAN  RACE.  545 

what  he  gets  from  this  institution,  for  it  bestows  its 
honors  with  great  caution.  The  life  of  Bishop  Harris 
has  been  spent  in  the  unselfish  service  of  his  fellow 
men,  and  is  an  illustration  of  fair  opportunities  in 
youth  worthily  followed  up,  and  of  energies  devoted 
to  the  service  of  humanity  receiving  their  due  recog- 
nition and  reward. 

Rev.  W.  G.  Alexander,  D.  D.,  was  born  December 
25,  1856,  in  Orange  county,  Virginia.  Early  in  life 
he  was  employed  by  Rev.  Thomas  E.  Green,  of  Wash- 
ington, D.  C.  Rev.  Mr.  Green,  being  a  man  of  large 
means,  took  a  great  interest  in  young  Alexander,  and 
educated  him  as  if  he  were  his  own  son.  After  finish- 
ing his  course  in  preparatory  work,  he  was  admitted 
to  Howard  University.  At  the  age  of  twenty-two, 
he  entered  the  African  Methodist  Episcopal  ministry 
His  early  years  in  the  ministry  were  spent  in  hard 
circuit  work.  He  has  successfully  filled  pastorates  at 
many  prominent  places  in  .he  South,  and  at  present  is 
pastor  of  Big  Bethel,  Atlanta,  Georgia.  While  pastor 
in  Virginia,  he  was  appointed  by  Governor  Lee  Cura- 
tor of  the  Hampton  Normal  and  Agricultural  Institute. 
In  1889  he  was  elected  Fraternal  Messenger  to  the 
General  Conference  of  the  Colored  Methodist  Episco- 
pal Church  at  Little  Rock,  Arkansas.  In  1892  he 
was  elected  to  the  Presidency  of  Payne  University, 
Selma,  Alabama,  but  declined,  preferring  to  remain 
in  the  ranks  of  the  traveling  ministry.  He  was 
one  of  the  principal  colored  speakers  at  the  Con- 
gress of  Religions  at  the  Columbian  Exposition  in 
Chicago  in  1893.  He  is  at  present  dean  of  the  theo- 
logical department  of  the  Morris  Brown  College, 
Atlanta,  and  acceptably  fills  the  professorship  of 
theology  and  sacred  literature. 

35  Progress. 


546 


PROGRESS   OF    A    RACE. 


v  As  the  pastor  of   Big    Bethel,   he  has  succeeded 
admirably  in  canceling  the  debt  by.  means  of  a  debt 


REV.  W.  G.  ALEXANDER. 


chart  which  he  has  invented.  This  chart  consists  of  a 
number  of  squares,  and  as  soon  as  any  one  has  contrib- 
uted ten  dollars  the  name  of  the  contributor  is  placed 


PERSONAGES  OF  THE  AFRO-AMERICAN  RACE.       547 

in  a  square.  The  church  is  valued  at  nearly  $100,000. 
Reverend  Alexander  is  very  popular  among  his  people. 
He  has  a  large  and  choice  library  of  books. 

Wilberforce  University,  Xenia,  Ohio,  conferred 
upon  him  the  honorary  degree  of  D.  D. 

He  is  the  author  of  "Living  Words,"  "The  Negro  in 
Commerce  and  Finance,"  and  "  The  Efficient  Sunday 
School."  Many  of  his  friends  think  that  he  would 
grace  a  bishop's  chair.  His  experience  and  ability 
make  him  one  of  the  most  popular  and  ablest  ministers 
of  his  denomination. 

Rev.  James.  A.  Davis,  D.D.,  is  one  of  the  prominent 
ministers  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  and  for 
the  past  ten  years  has  filled  some  of  the  best  and  most 
influential  churches.  Doctor  Davis  is  a  native  of  Ken- 
tucky. He  was  taken  to  Ohio  by  his  mother  in  his  in- 
fancy, who,  in  company  with  others,  was  set  free,  and 
located  in  Mercer  county.  His  father,  who  belonged  to 
a  different  master,  in  the  meantime  escaped  to  Canada, 
and  in  1862  his  mother  joined  him  in  Windsor, 
Canada,  where  they  remained  until  after  the  war. 
He  was  licensed  to  preach  in  1879.  In  1887  he  was 
sent  to  Greencastle,  Indiana,  where,  in  connection  with 
his  pastorate,  he  completed  a  course  of  theology  in  De 
Pauw  University.  He  is  at  present  stationed  in  Nash- 
ville. For  him  the  years  are  full  of  promise. 

Rev.  W.  D.  Balay  is  the  organizer  of  the  Afro- 
American  Industrial  Union  of  America;  the  object  of 
the  organization  is  to  elevate  and  uplift  the  race. 
Besides  spending  his  time  on  the  work  of  the  union, 
he  is  pastor  of  the  Baptist  Church  of  Oak  Cliff, 
Texas.  Mr.  Balay  has  labored  hard  to  make  himself 
useful  to  his  race,  and  has  succeeded  in  a  remarkable 
way. 


548  PROGRESS    OF   A  .RACE. 

Rev.  Joseph  Albert  Booker,  A.M.,  was  born  at 
Portland,  Arkansas.  His  mother  died  when  he  was 
but  one  year  old.  His  father,  having  been  found 
guilty  of  a  knowledge  of  books,  and  of  communicating 
the  same,  was  charged  with  spoiling  the  "good 
Niggers. ' '  For  this  he  was  whipped  to  death  when 
the  son  was  three  years  of  age.  With  such  adverse 
circumstances  to  begin  with,  young  Booker  was  sent 
to  school  by  his  grandmother.  He  soon  acquired 
sufficient  education  to  teach  at  the  age  of  seventeen. 
He  first  taught  a  subscription  school.  He  afterward 
entered  Roger  Williams  Academy,  graduating  there- 
from in  1886.  Soon  thereafter  he  was  elected  President 
of  Arkansas  Baptist  College.  President  Booker  is  one 
of  the  youngest  of  our  Negro  college  presidents,  and 
with  a  long  life  before  him,  and  great  opportunities 
about  him,  he  bids  fair  to  become  a  useful  and  influ- 
ential man  in  the  great  work  of  elevating  the  race. 

Rev.  E.  R.  Carter  was  born  in  Clark  county,  Georgia, 
in  1856,  .and  was  a  slave  until  the  overthrow  of  the 
Confederacy  in  1865.  Soon  thereafter  he  entered 
school,  and  in  1874  began  teaching.  He  entered 
Atlanta  Baptist  Seminary  in  1879.  Poverty  compelled 
him  to  subsist  upon  the  scantiest  meals,  but  undaunted, 
the  youth  held  to  his  purpose  through  all  his  experi- 
ences of  hardship,  self-denial  and  sacrifice.  In  1882 
he  was  called  to  the  First  Baptist  Church  of  Atlanta, 
which  position  he  has  most  acceptably  filled  since.  In 
1884  he  graduated  from  the  the  theological  department 
of  the  Atlanta  Baptist  Seminary.  Mr.  Carter  enjoys 
the  esteem  and  confidence  of  all  classes  and  denomina- 
tions. He  is  the  author  of  several  books:  "Our  Pulpit 
Illustrated,"  "The  Black  Side."  Rev.  Mr.  Carter  has 
traveled  extensively.  His  is  a  busy  life.  To  serve 


PERSONAGES  OF  THE  AFRO-AMERICAN  RACE. 


549 


others  and  to  do  his  part  in  the  great  work  of  elevating 
the  race  is  the  supreme  aim  of  his  life.. 


REV.  E.  R.  CARTER,  ATLANTA,  GEORGIA." 

Bev.  Z.  T.  Pardee,  who  was  born  a  slave  at  Sparta 


550  PROGRESS    OF    A    RACE. 

Georgia,  is  one  of  the  pioneer  preachers  of  the  Baptist 
Church  in  Texas. 
Rev.  James  Robinson  Carnes,  pastor  of  the  A.  M.  E. 

Bethel  Church  of  Dallas,  Texas,  was  born  in  Tennessee. 
His  parents  were  slaves,  his  grandmother  a  pure 
African  woman  and  his  grandfather  a  Guinea  Negro. 
Before  the  breaking  out  of  the  civil  war,  Texas  was 
supposed  to  be  the  best  place  to  send  slaves  for  safe 
keeping.  In  1860  he  and  his  mother  were  sent  to 
Columbus,  Texas.  Without  having  the  privilege  of  an 
education  as  many  others  have  had,  he  nevertheless 
has  worked  his  way  to  the  front,  and  has  served  many 
prominent  churches  in  Texas.  He  is  a  ready  speaker, 
and  takes  high  grounds  on  all  moral  and  religious 
subjects  He  is  a  progressive  and  successful  worker 
for  the  elevation  of  his  people  along  all  lines. 

Rev.  W.  B.  West  studied  at  Gammon  Theological 
Seminary,  Atlanta,  and  is  now  presiding  ejder  of  the 
Dallas  District  of  the  C.  M.  E.  Church,  and  editor  of 
the  Western  Index,  published  at  Dallas.  He  was  born 
a  slave  and  was  raised  on  a  farm,  but  like  many  others 
has  pushed  his  way  to  the  front,  and  is  now  one  of  the 
leaders  of  the  race. 

Bishop  Daniel  Payne  is  sometimes  called  "The 
Apostle  of  Education. ' '  He  was  a  carpenter  by  trade 
He  taught  school  until  his  school  was  closed  by  slave- 
holders. He  then  left  his  native  city,  Charleston, 
South  Carolina,  with  the  determination  never  to 
return  until  slavery  was  abolished.  In  1840  he  joined 
the  Philadelphia  Conference  of  the  A.  M.  E.  Church 
as  a  local  preacher.  After  serving  churches  at  Wash- 
ington, Baltimore  and  other  cities,  be  was  elected 
bishop.  In  1863  he  purchased  for  the.  A.  M.  E 
Church  Wilberf orce  University,  Ohio,  and  the  success 


PERSONAGES  OF  THE  AFRO- AMERICAN  RACE. 


551 


that  this  school  has  met  with  is  altogether  due  to  the 
energy  and  earnest  zeal  of  this  devoted  man.  In  1881 
he  presided  over  the  Ecumenical  Conference  in  London 
of  the  M.  E.  Chfirch,  and  in  1893  was  one  of  those 


REV.  W.   B.  WEST. 

who  presided  over  the  World's  Parliament  of  Religions 
in  Chicago.  He  died  in  Wilberforce,  Ohio,  in  1893, 
being  at  the  time  President  of  the  Payne  Theological 
Seminary  at  Wilber'fbree. 

Eev.  M.  0.  D.  Mason  was  born  of  slave  parents  on  a 
sugar  farm  near  Houma,  Louisiana,  in  ^85 9.     In  1875 


552  PROGRESS  OF   A   RACE. 

he  entered  the  State  Agricultural  College  at  New 
Orleans.  From  1 8  7  7  to  1 880  he  taught  a  town  school  and 
then  entered  New  Orleans  University.  In  1883  he  joined 
the  Louisiana  Conference  of  the  M.  *fe.  Church.  He 
won  great  popularity  as  a  preacher  and  a  pastor  while 
serving  Lloyd  Street  Church,  Atlanta.  He  completed 
a  course  of  theology  in  Gammon  Theological  Seminary 
while  in  Atlanta,  and  immediately  thereafter  was 
appointed  field  agent  of  the  Southern  Educational 
Society  of  the  M.  E.  Church;  He  still  holds  this 
position,  and  is  doing  a  good  work  for  the  race.  He 
is  a  man  of  fine  scholarly  ability,  discriminating  min- 
utely in  choice  of  books  and  the  subjects  of  which  he 
treats.  His  life  is  an  inspiration  to  all  who  come 
under  his  influence. 

Rev.  Paul  H.  Kennedy  was  born  in  Elizabeth  town, 
Kentucky.  He  had  an  earnest  desire  to  acquire  an 
education,  but  was  hindered  by  that  institution, 
slavery.  During  the  early  part  of  the  Rebellion*  the 
Union  soldiers  appeared  near  his  home,  and  he 
expressed  the  desire  to  be  free.  The  soldiers  con- 
cealed him  in  a  wagon,  but  he  was  aftenvard  returned 
to  his  master.  Soon  after  he  set  out  on  foot,  and 
walked  to  Louisville,  and  enlisted  in  the  logth  Regi- 
ment of  Colored  Troops.  He  declares  that  the  walk 
from  slavery  to  freedom,  although  a  long  one,  was  a 
pleasant  trip.  In  1876  he  was  appointed  pastor  of  the 
First  Baptist  Church  of  Clarkesville,  Tennessee. 
Afterward  he  entered  Roger  Williams  University, 
where  he  prepared  himself  for  his  life  work.  He  has 
served  as  pastor  of  some  of  the  largest  Baptist  Churches 
of  the  colored  race  in  the  country.  He  is  author  of 
several  books,  and  also  designed  the  Afro- American 
chart,  which  was  exhibited  at  the  World's  Fair*  Chicago. 


PERSONAGES  OF  THE  AFRO- AMERICAN  RACE.  553 

Rev.  G.  V.  Clark  was  brought  by  his  slave  mother 
to  Atlanta  when  about  three  years  old.  In  1862  he 
was  put  "by  his  master  in  the  service  of  the  Confederate 
hospital,  where  he  remained  until  the  close  of  the  war. 
He  began  going  to  school  in  his  sev  nteenth  year,  and 
soon  after  entered  Atlanta  University,  and  then  How- 
ard University,  Washington.  After  teaching  for  a 
time,  he  graduated  in  Howard  University  in  1881.  He 
was  pastor  of  the  First  Congregational  Church  in 
Atlanta  for  seven  years.  Since  then  he  has  served 
some  of  the  largest  Congregational  churches  of  the 
South.  He  is  a  popular  lecturer  and  speaker. 

Rev.  Wm.  Howard  Day,  A.M.,  D.D.— Dr.  Wm. 
Howard  Day,  General  Secretary  of  the  A.  M.  E.  Zion 
Church,  and  Chief  Secretary  of  the  Philadelphia 
Conference,  was  born  in  New  York  city,  and  is  the 
only  man  living  who  when  a  babe  was  baptized  by 
Bishop  Varick,  the  founder  of  the  Zion  Church.  He 
prepared  for  college  at  New  York  city  and  Northamp- 
ton, Massachusetts,  but  on  account  of  color  prejudice 
he  was  obliged  to  go  to  Oberlin  College,  Ohio,  as  the 
only  institution  with  a  curriculum  equal  to  that  of 
Yale,  admitting  men  of  color.  Graduated  in  1847, 
and  taking  the  degree  A.B.,  he  received  the  degree  of 
A.M.  in  1859  from  Oberlin,  his  alma  mater,  and  later 
on  D.D.,  from  Livingstone  College.  He  was  elected 
professor  of  languages  and  mathematics  by  two  col- 
leges, 1857;  offered  Latin  tutorship,  Lincoln,  Eng- 
land, 1862.  He  visited  Great  Britain  1859,  and  was 
received  by  the_  Rt.  Hon.  the  Earl  Spencer  at 
Spencer  house,  England;  and  by  her  grace  the 
Duchess  of  Sutherland,  the  first  lady  in  the  kingdom 
next  to  her  majesty,  the  Queen,  at  Stafford  house, 
London.  Subsequently  by  the  lord  provost  of  Edin- 


554  PROGRESS   OF    A   RACE. 

burg,  Scotland;  main  speaker  at  a  meeting  of  3,000 
persons,  in  Music  Hall,  Dublin,  Ireland,  presided  over 
by  the  Lord  Mayor,  clad  in  his  official  robe  and  jewel 
of  office;  addressed  other  thousands  in  England, 
Ireland  and  Scotland;  in  1866  was  ordained  Deacon 
and  Elder  at  Petersburg,  Virginia,  by  Rt.  Rev.  J.  J. 
Clinton;  elected  General  Secretary  by  the  General 
Conference  in  1876,  1888,  1892  and  1896,  for  four  years; 
pastor,  presiding  elder,  general  missionary,  supervisor 
of  missions,  intellectual  instructor,  etc.,  during  the 
past  fifteen  years  in  the  Philadelphia  and  Baltimore 
Conference;  unanimously  elected  President  of  the 
Board  of  School  Control,  Harrisburg,  1891-92,  the 
only  instance  on  record  in  the  United  States  where  a 
man  of  color,  and  the  only  colored  member,  has  been 
successfully  elected  president  of  twenty-five  men, 
fifteen  Republicans  and  ten  Democrats.  Elected 
President  of  the  Dauphin  county  (Pennsylvania) 
Directors'  Association  (comprising  all  the  educational 
boards  in  the  county),  for  five  successive  years,  he  the 
only  colored  member  in  the  county,  1891-96,  the  only 
instance  in  the  United  States  where  such  a  fact  appears. 
The  fact  carries  its  own  comment,  and  in  every  respect 
is  doubly  creditable  to  the  Board  and  to  Doctor  Day. 

Rev.  Emperor  Williams  was  born  a  slave  in  Nash- 
ville, Tennessee.  He  was  sold  into  Louisiana  in  1841 
to  a  builder.  The  builder  had.  a  difficult  piece  of 
cornice,  and  none  of  his  white  men  could  put  it  up.  Wil- 
liams told  his  master  that  he  could  do  it,  and  his  master 
replied  that  if  he  could  put  it  up  he  should  have  his 
freedom.  Williams  studied  over  the  plan  all  night, 
and  the  next  day  took  a  gang  of  men  and  accomplished 
the  difficult  task.  He  was  given  his  freedom.  After- 
ward he  attempted  to  buy  his  wife,  offering  $2,000  for 


PERSONAGES  OF  THE  AFRO-AMERICAN  RACE.  555 

her,  but  her  master  would  not  sell  her.  Soon  afterward 
General  Butler  took  New  Orleans,  and  Williams  got 
his  wife  for  nothing  and  took  his  money  and  bought  a 
home.  While  a  slave  Williams  frequently  wrote  passes 
for  himself.  His  master  once  asked  him  where  he 
learned  to  write  the  passes.  He  said:  " While  I  was 
collecting  your  rents  for  you."  .  Thus  frequently  did 
the  Negro  succeed  in  getting  the  rudiments  of  an 
education. 

LAWYERS. 

The  following  is  taken  from  an  address  by  the  Hon. 
J.  T.  Settle,  delivered  at  Greenville,  Mississippi : 

Gentlemen  of  the  Colored  Bar  Association  of  Missis- 
sippi :  I  have  listened  with  pleasure  and  profit  to  your 
excellent  addresses  on  different  legal  topics,  and  I  can 
pay  you  no  higher  compliment  than  to  say  you  are  an 
honor  to  the  profession.  I  look  upon  this  meeting  as 
the  dawn  of  a  new  era  in  the  history  of  our  race.  It 
is  no  new  thing  for  us  to  meet  and  participate  in  the 
public  assemblages  of  men ;  in  fact,  one  of  the  misfor- 
tunes of  our  people  has  been  a  too  great  love  for  meet- 
ings and  conventions  of  every  kind,  out  of  which  little 
if  any  permanent  good  has  ever  accrued  to  us.  The 
emotional  side  of  our  nature  has  ever  been  so  easily 
reached  that  we  have  been  too  often  used  as  instru- 
ments in  the  hands  of  others. 

First  Annual  Meeting. — This  organization,,  of  which 
this  is  the  first  annual  meeting,  marks  the  advent  of 
the  colored  citizen  into  a  new  field  of  labor.  It 
evidences  the  existence  of  a  sufficient  number  of  col- 
ored lawyers  in  Mississippi  engaged  in  active  practice 
of  the  law  to  form  a  state  organization  to  promote 
their  interests  individually  and  collectively,  and  in 
doing  this  they  cannot  fail  to  promote  the  interests  of 


556  PROGRESS    OF    A    RACE. 

the  entire  race  and  to  contribute  to  the  general  welfare 
of  our  common  country,  for  we  are  as  much  a  part  of 
our  composite  nationality  as  any  element  it  contains. 
It  is  no  new  thing  for  the  residents  of  this  beautiful 
delta  to  see  gatherings  of  colored  men. 

Politics  and  Religion  have  given  us  conventions  and 
conferences  at  short  intervals  until  some  have  come  to 
believe  that  we  take  to  them  as  naturally  as  birds  to 
the  air  and  fishes  to  the  sea.  But  whoever  thought 
that  here  in  this  beautiful  city,  queen  of  the  valley, 
beside  this  great  inland  sea,  would  meet  the  first  col- 
ored bar  association  ever  organized  in  the  United 
States?  And  I  think  I  may  safely  say  that  never  in 
the  history  of  the  race  has  there  been  a  meeting 
fraught  with  more  significance.  It  shows  that  the 
various  and  trying  ordeals  through  which  we  have 
passed  during  the  last  fifteen  or  twenty  years  in  this 
beautiful  Southland,  have  evolved  a  class  of  men, 
educated,  thoughtful  and  conservative — indeed,  men 
who  are  alive  to  the  present  and  prepared  to  meet  the 
demands  of  the  future. 

No  Hope  of  Success. — Many  of  our  friends  and  all  of 
our  enemies  discourage  us  by  saying  that  this  was  the 
one  profession  in  which  we  could  not  hope  to  succeed. 
We  have  been  compelled  to  realize  that  we  are  the 
representatives  of  that  race  which  has  labored  in 
mental  and  physical  servitude  and  suffered  from  polit- 
ical and  social  degradation  since  the  planting  of  civili- 
zation on  this  continent.  We  realize  in  the  beginning 
that  the  -  undertaking  to  become  practical  lawyers, 
and  to  •  acquire  such  a  mastery  of  the  law  as  to  enter 
favorably  upon  its  practice,  was  a  serious  one,  and 
doubly  so  to  us. 

Prejudice.— -We  have    met    iinreasoning  prejudice 


PERSONAGES  OF  f  HE  AFRO-AMERICAN  RACE.  557 

which  denied  us  excellence  of  any  kind,  which  declared 
that  we  were  without  intellectual  vigor  and  inventive 
power,  and  destitute  of  strength  to  grasp  and  persis- 
tency to  retain  and  master  any  complex  and  profound 
proposition.  In  many  instances  we  have  commenced 
our  trial  before  a  jury  whose  pre-formed  judgment 
would  disqualify  them  from  sitting  in  any  other  case. 
We  have  often  found,  not  our  clients,  but  ourselves 
on  trial,  and  not  ourselves  alone,  but  the  whole  race 
with  us — a  race  which  is  condemned  for  the  failure  of 
its  individuals,  while  the  success  of  every  member  of 
it  is  pronounced  exceptional  and  due  to  incidental 
conditions. 

Equal  to  Struggles. — We  have  made  good  soldiers 
and  successful  teachers,  we  have  produced  some  great 
preachers  and  distinguished  speakers,  and  this  meeting 
demonstrated  the  fact  that  we  are  equal  to  the  hard, 
tough  and  long  continued  struggles  of  the  bar,  in  some 
respects  the  severest  test  that  can  be  applied  to  a 
man;  and  yet  the  world  may  be  slow  to  admit  our 
success  until,  perhaps,  we  have  produced  an  attorney- 
general  or  a  justice  of  the  supreme  court. 

Not  All  Succeed. — I  do  not  mean  to  say  that  every 
young  man  of  color  who  has  begun  the  practice  of  law 
has  succeeded;  no,  not  by  any  means.  Nor  is  this 
true  of  the  young  men  of  any  race,  for  along  life's 
highway,  in  all  of  the  professions,  are  many  wrecks 
which  mark  the  weakness  and  frailty  of  human  char- 
acter; and  here  I  think  I  may  safely  say  that  one  of 
the  principal  causes  of  failure  in  the  legal  profession 
is  the  wrant  of  sufficient  preparation. 

An  Oily  Tongue. — Some  persons  unwisely  think 
that  all  that  is  necessary  to  constitute  a  successful 
lawyer  is  an  oily  tongue,  a  vivid  imagination  and  a 


558  PROGRESS    OF    A    RACE. 

great  capacity  to  lie ;  in  fact,  some  people  profess  to 
think  that  lawyer  and  liar  are  synonymous  terms. 
Such  persons,  it  is  needless  for  me  to  say,  know  but 
little  of  the  law  and  still  less,  of  the  lawyer.  They 
forget  or  do  not  think,  that  the  contests  of  lawyers  are 
not  "ex-parte. "  They  confront  each  other  before 
learned  and  astute  courts  and  in  the  presence  of  the 
world,  where  lies  and  frauds  have  the  least  possible 
chance  of  success,  and  where  exposure  would  usually 
prove  fatal  to  a  cause. 

A  Good  Education. — No  lawyer  can  build  a  splendid 
professional  career  upon  an  insufficient  education  any 
more  than  he  can  build  a  monument  of  stone  upon  a 
foundation  of  sand.  I  do  not  mean  to  say  a  collegiate 
education  is  absolutely  necessary  to  a  successful  career, 
but  it  is  a  great  help.  Few  men  ever  reached  distinc- 
tion in  the  law  who  were. not  thorough  scholars.  Many 
also  fail  who  are  well  equipped  intellectually  because 
they  depend  upon  the  oily  tongue  and  vivid  imagina- 
tion rather  than  real  earnest  work. 

Courage. — Courage,  moral  and  physical,  are  both 
necessary  elements  of  character.  There  is  probably 
no  element  of  character  that  inspires  so  much  admira- 
tion and  creates  so  quick  and  enthusiastic  a  following* 
as  this.  A  man  who  is  afraid  of  nothing  in  the 
discharge  of  his  duty,  afraid  of  no  consequence 
personal  to  .himself,  has  his  battle  half  won  before  he 
strikes  a  blow.  So  great  is  the  popular  admiration  of 
courage  that  it  has  always  been  surrounded  by  a  halo 
of  romance. 

Earnestness  and  Enthusiasm  are  also  so  essential 
that  I  cannot  refrain  from  mentioning  them  in  this 
connection.  I  name  them  together  because  they  are 
so  nearly  akin ;  indeed,  enthusiasm  is  only  earnestness 


PERSONAGES  OF  THE  AFRO-AMERICAN  RACE.         559 

carried  to  white  heat ;  they  are  the  only  qualities  that 
can  take  the  place  of  personal  magnetism  in  compell- 
ing sympathy.  Earnestness  comes  from  strong 
conviction  and  strong  feeling;  enthusiasm  rising  out 
of  it  is  the  fusion  and  sublimation  of  all  the  elements 
of  power  within  a  man,  and  is  strong  in  proportion  as 
it  is  rational ;  the  moment  it  becomes  mere  passion  it 
becomes  weakness.  The  world  refuses  to  be  moved 
by  men  who  are  not  in  earnest.  Human  nature  is 
very  much  like  iron — if  you  would  bend  it  or  shape  it 
you  must  heat  it.  Earnestness  is  the  furnace; 
enthusiasm  the  fire  whose  flames  need  only  to  envelop 
other  minds  to  make  plastic  or  ductile. 

Citizens. — We  are  citizens  of  this  country  by  nativity, 
not  by  choice  or  adoption,  and  here,  under  God's 
providence,  we  mean  to  stay,  and  strike  glad  hands 
with  all  lovers  of  justice,  work  out  our  own  destinies 
and  vie  with  every  other  nationality  in  developing  the 
material  resources  and  contributing  to  the  greatness  of 
our  beloved  Southland.  Agitators  may  discuss  the  so- 
called  race  problem,  but  in  the  busy,  active  duties  of 
life  we  have  no  time  for  theories.  We  should  prepare 
ourselves  by  every  energy  of  mind  and  soul  to  solve 
the  problem  put  to  us  by  those  by  whom  we  are 
surrounded,  and  with  whom  we  live,  viz. :  "The 
survival  of  the  fittest. ' '  Citizens  by  nativity,  we  have 
no  other  land  to  love.  To  this  we  have  given  our 
labor  for  more  than  one  hundred  years ;  in  defense  of 
her  flag  we  have  given  our  lives;  to  sustain  her  integ- 
rity we  have  contributed  whatever  was  demanded  of 
us.  At  all  times  have  we  been  faithful  and  reliable. 

We  have  never  been  numbered  among  our  country's 
enemies.  We  have  never  been  found  in  the  ranks  of 
the  Socialists  and  Anarchists  in  their  attack  upon 


560 


PROGRESS   OF    A    RACE. 


social  order  and  our  free  institutions.  Yet  we  have 
lived  under  a  condition  of  things  at  times  unequaled 
in  the  history  of  civilized  government. 

True  to  Our  Native  Land.— Erin's  sons  were  never 
truer  to  the  Emerald  Isle,  nor  the  Highlander  to  Scot- 


HON.  J.  T.  SETTLE. 


land's  cliffs  and  crags  than  we  to  the  land  of  our  birth. 
What  member  of  any  race  ever  gave  expression  to 
loftier  sentiments  of  patriotism  in  the  American  Con- 
gress than  the  distinguished  lawyer  and  scholar,  Hon. 


PERSONAGES  OK   THE   A  FRO- AMERICAN   RACE.  T)(vl 

John  M.  Langston,  of  Virginia,  when  from  his  seat  in 
that  august  body  he  said:  "Ah,  my  white  fellow 
citizens  on  the  other  side  of  the  house,  and  on  every 
side,  black  as  we  are,  no  man  shall  go  ahead  of  us  in 
devotion  to  this  country,  in  devotion  to  its  free  insti- 
tutions, for  we  hold  our  lives,  our  property  and  our 
sacred  honor  in  pledge  to  the  welfare  of  our  country 
and  of  all  our  fellow  citizens.  Do  you  want  iis  to 
fight  for  our  flag?  Call  on  us  and  we  will  come.  Do 
you  want  men  to  tarry  at  home  and  take  care  of  your 
wives  and  children,  to  take  care  of  your  homes  and 
protect  your  interests?  Call  on  us,  and  we  will  sacredly 
keep  and  perform  every  trust  and  obligation." 

History  and  Patriotism. — Every  member  of  the 
race  echoes  these  sentiments,  and  in  the  years  to  come, 
when  man's  passions  and  prejudices  have  subsided, 
impartial  history  will  give  to  no  race  a  prouder  place 
in  their  country's  history  than  we  shall  possess,  and  no 
race  or  condition  of  people  will  be  prompted  by  a  purer 
or  loftier  patriotism  than  we,  in  our  efforts  to  make 
our  beloved  South  the  home  of  a  happy,  prosperous 
and  contented  people. 

Hon.  J.  T.  Settle.— The  subject  of  this  sketch  was 
born  upon  the  mountains  of  East  Tennessee,  Septem- 
ber 30,  1850,  while  his  parents  were  "in  transit"  from 
North  Carolina  to  Mississippi.  In  1856  he  was  carried 
to  Ohio  and  located  at  Hamilton,  where  he  attended 
the  public  school  until  1866,  when  he  was  sent  to 
Oberlin,  where  he  prepared  and  entered  college  in  1868. 
He  was  one  of  the  three  or  four  colored  boys  in  a  class 
numbering  forty- five  or  fifty.  Yet  he  was  chosen  ah 
one  of  the  eight  orators  to  represent  his  class  when 
they  entered  college,  an  honor  much  coveted  by  all 

students. 

36  Progress, 


562  PROGRESS    OF    A    RACE. 

Mr.  Settle  completed  his  Freshman  year  and  entered 
the  Sophomore  class  at  Obeiiin.  In  1869,  having  lost 
his  father,  who  had  indeed  been  a  father  in  the  broadest 
sense  of  the  word,  he  left  Oberlin,  went  to  Washington 
City,  and  entered  the  Sophomore  class  of  Howard  Uni- 
versity, where  he  pursued  his  college  studies  and  taught 
in  the  preparatory  department. 

He  graduated  from  the  college  department  of 
Howard  University  in  1872.  In  the  latter  portion  of 
his  senior  year  he  was  elected  "  Reading  Clerk"  of  the 
House  of  Delegates  (the  District  of  Columbia  then 
being  under  a  territorial  form  of  government)  and  at 
the  time  of  his  graduation  was  performing  his  duties 
as  reading  clerk  of  the  legislature,  teaching  a  class  in 
Latin  and  one  in  mathematics  daily  at  the  university 
and  pursuing  his  own  studies  at  the  same  time. 

Immediately  upon  his  graduation  from  college  he 
entered  the  law  department  of  the  same  institution. 

Upon  his  graduation  from  the  law  department  he 
was  selected  as  one  of  the  orators  to  represent  his  class. 
He  was  admitted  to  the  bar  of  the  Supreme  Court  of 
the  District  of  Columbia,  but  having  determined  to 
make  his  chosen  profession  his  life's  work,  he  left  the 
District  of  Columbia  in  the  spring  of  1875  and  located 
in  North  Mississippi,  where  he  at  once  engaged  in  the 
practice  of  law.  He  returned  the  same  year  and  was 
married  to  Miss  Therese  T.  Voglesong,  of  Annapolis, 
Maryland,  and  again  made  his  home  in  Mississippi. 
In  1876  he  was  a  delegate  to  the  National  Republican 
convention.  He  was  the  only  delegate  from  Mississippi 
who  voted  for  the  nomination  of  Roscoe  Conkling  for 
President,  and  continued  to  vote  for  him  as  long  as  his 
name  was  before  the  convention. 

Mr.  Settle  was  elector  for  the  state  at  large  on  the 


PERSONAGES  OP  THE  AFRO-AMERICAN  RACE.  563 

Hayes  and  Wheeler  ticket.  In  1880  he  was  Presi- 
dential elector  on  the  Garfield  and  Arthur  ticket. 

In  1883  Mr.  Settle  was  nominated  and  elected  to  the 
legislature  upon  an  independent  ticket,  being  strongly 
opposed  to  the  fusion  his  party  made  with  the  Democ- 
racy. It  was  during  this  canvass  that  he  made  the 
most  brilliant  efforts  of  his  life.  He  was  met  by  the 
ablest  speakers  on  both  sides;  but  before  the  people 
he  was  irresistible,  and  was  triumphantly  elected  by 
more  than  1,200  majority. 

Upon  his  return  from  the  legislature  he  determined 
to  abandon  active  participation  in  politics  and  devote 
his  time  and  energy  to  the  practice  of  law;  he  left 
Mississippi  and  located  in  Memphis,  where  he  is  now 
living.  About  two  months  after  his  location  in  Mem- 
phis, he  was  appointed  assistant  attorney-general  of 
the  criminal  court  of  Shelby  county ;  which  position  he 
held  over  two  years.  The  manner  in  which  he  dis- 
charged the  responsible  duties  of  prosecuting  are  thus 
put  by  the  Hon.  A.  H.  Douglass,  who  was  upon  the 
bench  at  that  time:  "His  uniform  attention  to  official 
business,  his  manly  courtesy  and  amiability,  won  him 
the  esteem  and  respect  of  the  bench,  the  bar  and  liti- 
gants, and  went  very  far  to  break  down  the  existing 
prejudices  against  his  color  in  the  profession.  His  talent 
is  fully  recognized  and  his  integrity  has  in  no  instance 
been  in  the  least  questioned  from  any  source.  He 
prosecuted  without  acerbity  and  with  fairness,  but 
neglected  no  legitimate  resources  to  fix  the  conviction 
on  the  really  guilty.  He  is  such  a  master  of  elocution, 
and  displays  such  fluency,  and  indeed  brilliancy,  that 
he  invariably  captivated  those  who  listened  to  him. 
He  is  remarkably  simple  in  his  manners,  and  utterly 
without  ostentation,  and  is  an  honor  to  his  profession. " 


564  PROGRESS   OF    A    RACE. 

He  is  now  comfortably  situated  in  a  handsome  two- 
story  residence  in  a  beautiful  part  of  the  city,  where  he 
enjoys  the  esteem  and  confidence  of  a  large  circle  of 
friends. 

Hon.  Samuel  McElwee.  Lawyer,  Legislator,  Orator. 
— It  is  wonderful  how  easily  some  men  rise  in  the 
world,  and  how  hard  others  struggle  to  accomplish  the 
same  things.  Every  step  with  some  seems  marked 
with  severe  toils,  bitter  hardships,  and  apparently 
insurmountable  difficulties.  But  when  at  last  the  goal 
has  been  attained,  the  prize  seems  ever  so  sweet,  aye, 
sweeter  that  it  could  possibly  be  without  the  conflicts 
and  discouragements.  Samuel  Allen  McElwee  is  a 
brave  soul,  who  can  wear  on  the  forehead,  "Through 
difficulties  to  the  stars. "  The  chains  of  slavery  bound 
his  body  not  half  so  tightly  as  ignorance  his  mind. 
When  the  war  ended  he  could  not  write.  He  was  a 
farmer's  boy,  for  many  years  going  to  school  but  three 
months  in  the  year.  Yet  he  studied  until  midnight, 
burning  patiently  the  light  which  would  give  him  an 
opportunity  to  read,  which  in  future  years  gave  him  a 
brighter  light  whereby  he  might  see  the  condition  of 
his  race,  and  find  a  remedy  for  their  many  ills.  Though 
worn  with  the  daily  toil,  he  never  neglected  his  studies, 
and  on  examination  day  entered  with  his  class  and 
passed  the  tests  from  the  year  1868  to  1874,  He  then 
taught  school.  He  often  tells  how,  at  that  time,  he 
was  influenced  by  The  National  Era,  Fred  Douglass* 
paper,  and  how  he  longed  for  more  education.  He 
matriculated  at  Oberlin,  and  waited  on  the  table,  picked 
currants,  and  washed  dishes  for  his  board.  At  the  end 
of  the  year  he  went  to  Mississippi,  where  he  taught 
school  for  five  years.  Then  he  taught  a  year  in 
Alabama.  He  once  walked  thirty  miles  to  secure  a 


PERSONAGES  OF  THE  AFRO- AMERICAN  RACE.          565 

School  in  Tennessee.  He  was  often  without  money, 
and  even  a  place  to  sleep.  Anxious  to  obtain  means 
to  return  to  college,  he  commenced  selling  Lyman's 
Historical  Charts,  Bibles  and  Medicines.  Failing  to 
make  enough  money  to  return  to  college,  he  deter- 
mined to  study  under  a  private  teacher.  After  teach- 
ing a  large  school  in  the  day,  he  would  walk  ten  miles 
two  nights  in  the  week  to  recite  in  Latin,  Greek, 
German  and  Algebra  to  a  white  student  at  Vanderbilt 
University.  Mark  that,  young  man;  victory  await? 
the  daring,  and  reward  always  follows  the  persevering. 
The  student  teacher  was  so  impressed  with  the  story 
of  this  Negro's  perseverance  in  seeking  an  education 
that  he  told  the  president  of  Fisk  University  of  the 
ambitious  boy.  The  president  invited  him  to  enter 
the  University.  After  a  year  in  the  senior  preparatory 
class,  he  entered  college  and  graduated  in  1883.  In 
the  campaign  of  1882,  he  traveled  over  the  eighth  and 
ninth  districts  of  Tennessee  for  the  Republican  party, 
advocating  a  just  settlement  of  the  state  debt.  While 
he  was  yet  a  student  in  January,  1883,  he  took  his  seat 
in  the  Tennessee  legislature,  and  served  three  terms 
as  a  statesman  and  orator.  He  studied  law  in  Central 
Tennessee  College,  and  was  graduated  in  1885.  He 
was  a  delegate  to  the  Chicago  convention  which  nom- 
inated Hon.  J.  G.  Blaine,  f.nd  with, six  others  voted  for 
him  on  every  ballot  Mr.  McElwee  takes  a  deep  in- 
terest in  the  moral,  social  and  industrial  future  of  his 
people.  He  is  a  magnetic  speaker,  forcible  debater, 
and  an  indefatigable  worker,  a  manly  man  and  a  truly 
honest  citizen.  His  speech  on  "Mobs,"  in  the  Ten- 
nessee legislature,  was  widely  circulated.  Mr.  Mc- 
Elwee fs  popularity  with  the  people  of  his  race  is 
unbounded.  He  lives  honestly  and  soberly,  thus 


PROGRESS   OF    A    RACE. 


challenging  their  admiration  and  winning  their  friend- 
ship.  Mr.  McElwee  was  married  in  1888  to  Miss 
Georgia  Shelton,  the  daughter  of  one  of  Nashville's 
most  prominent  and  refined  families.  In  a  beautiful 


HON.  J.  C.  NAPIER. 

residence,   opposite  Central  Tennessee   College,   Mr. 
and   Mrs.  McElwee,  with  their  two  children,  reside. 
Their  hospitality  is  widely  known.      The  past  few  v 
years  have  been  devoted  solely  to  the  practice  of  law, 
in  which  he  ranks  with   the  best  white  legal  lights 


PERSONAGES  OF  THE  AFRO-AMERICAN  RACE.  567 

before  the  national  bar.  He  has  a  lucrative  practice. 
His  impassioned  and  forcible  eloquence  appeals  to 
judge  and  jury  in  defense  of  right  and  condemnation 
of  wrong.  Mr.  McElwee  declares  that  his  color  is  no 
barrier  to  his  practice,  and  that  he  receives  due  recog- 
nition from  the  judges  and  the  legal  fraternity  in 
general.  He  is  still  a  hard  student,  and  finds  pleasant 
society  with  his  books,  and  in  keeping  abreast  with  the 
latest  legal  news  of  the  day.  He  is  a  brilliant  conver- 
sationalist, of  pleasing  address,  and  a  ready  speaker, 
lie  is  a  devout  member  of  St.  Paul's  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Church,  'and  perhaps  the  fact  that  he  is  a  true 
Christian  gentleman  speaks  the  best  for  the  man. 

Among  the  Older  Members  of  the  Legal  Profession 
are  D.  Augustus  Straker,  of  Detroit ;  J.  C.  Napier  and 
S.  A.  McElwee,  of  Nashville;  Hale  G.  Parker,  of  Chi- 
cago; J.  Madison  Vance,  of  New  Orleans,  O.  F.  Gar- 
rett,  of  Greenville,  Mississippi;  H.  F.  Bowles,  of 
Natchez;  J.  E.  Burgee,  Chattanooga,  Tennessee;  W. 
M.  Gibbs  and  S.  A.  Jones,  of  Little  Rock,  Arkansas; 
J.  T.  Little  and  B.  F.  Booth,  of  Memphis,  Tennessee. 

James  Carrol  Napier. — The  subject  of  this  sketch 
was  born  near  Nashville,  Tennessee,  June  9,  1848. 
He  received  his  primary  education  in  such  schools  as 
were  permitted  for  colored  people  in  Nashville  before 
the  war,  and  in  1859  was  sent  to  Wilberforce  Univer- 
sity, near  Xenia,  Ohio.  From  thence  he  went  to 
Oberlin,  where  he  remained  until  near  the  completion 
of  his  junior  college  year,  when  he  left  school  to  accept 
a  position 'in  the  government  service  in  the  War  depart- 
ment at  Washington,  D.  C.  In  1873  he  was  graduated 
from  the  law  department  of  Howard  University,  and 
was  admitted  to  the  bar  by  the  Supreme  Court  of  the 
District  of  Columbia.  Passing  a  civil  service  examin  a- 


568  PROGRESS   OF    A    RACE. 

tion,  he  was  appointed  to  a  first-class  clerkship  in  the 
bureau  of  the  Sixth  Auditor,  the  first  of  his  race  in  that 
branch  of  the  government  service.  His  services  in  that 
position  were  so  satisfactory  that  he  was  in  a  short  time 
prompted  to  a  clerkship  in  the  bookkeeping  division, 
which  position  he  resigned,  after  three  years'  service, 
to  take  the  responsible  position  of  Revenue  Agent  for 
the  Internal  Revenue  District  embracing  the  states  of 
Kentucky,  Tennessee,  Alabama  and  Louisiana,  in 
which  position  he  was  repeatedly  complimented  by  the 
department  for  the  efficiency  with  which  he  performed 
his  duties.  Desiring  to  return  to  his  home  at  Nash- 
ville, he  resigned  the  position  of  Internal  Revenue 
Agent  to  become  a  Gauger  in  the  Fifth  Internal  Rev- 
enue District  of  Tennessee,  and  after  a  long  and  hon- 
orable service  in  such  capacit)^,  was  promoted  to  be  a 
Deputy  Collector,  which  position  he  filled  with  great 
credit  to  himself  and  the  entire  satisfaction  of  the 
government  until  the  advent  of  Cleveland's  first 
administration,  when  he  was  relieved  to  give  place  to 
a  Democrat. 

In  1878  Mr.  Napier  revisited  Washington  to  marry  the 
only  daughter  of  Hon.  John  M.  Langston,  then  Min- 
ister to  Hayti,  a  woman  of  broad  culture,  high  educa- 
tion and  superior  intellect,  a  step  which  has  never  been 
regretted  by  either. 

Immediately  after  his  retirement  from  the  govern- 
ment service,  Mr.  Napier  entered  upon  the  practice  of 
law  at  Nashville,  and  has  been  engaged  therein  con- 
tinuously to  the  present 'time.  Beginning  as  an  inex- 
perienced practitioner,  he  has,  by  dint  of  industry 
and  close  application,  advanced  step  by  step  to  the 
enviable  position  which  he  now  occupies  as  a  citizen 
and  a  member  of  the  Nashville  bar.  As  was  natural, 


PERSONAGES  OF  THE  AFRO- AMERICAN  RACE.  569 

he  has  associated  politics  with  law,  and  in  this  field  he 
has  been  eminently  successful  also.  Never  descend- 
ing to  the  plane  of  the  ward  politician,  his  political 
life  has  been  so  straightforward,  clean  and  fearless  as 
to  give  confidence  and  inspiration  to  his  party  asso- 
ciates and  demand  the  respect  of  men  of  all  parties. 
He  was  four  times  elected  a  member  of  the  City 
Council  of  Nashville,  and  as  the  representative  of  the 
colored  population  of  that  city,  with  the  assistance  of 
his  fellow  citizens,  secured  the  appointment  of  colored 
teachers  in  the  public  schools,  the  erection  of  new  and 
additional  school  buildings,  and  did  much  to  bettei 
their  educational  and  financial  condition.  He  is  the 
representative  of  the  colored  Republicans  in  the  State 
of  Tennessee,  and  has  been  a  member  of  the  Repub- 
lican State  Executive  Committee  for  sixteen  consecu- 
tive years,  during  which  time  he  has  served  a 
considerable  period  as  its  acting  chairman,  and  six 
years  as  its  secretary.  He  has  been  four  times  elected 
a  delegate  to  the  National  Republican  Convention, 
once  as  the  representative  of  his  Congressional  District, 
and  three  times  from  the  state-at -large,  one  of  the 
highest  honors  within  the  gift  of  the  Republicans  of  a 
state.  He  is  at  present  a  member  of  the  National 
Executive  Committee  of  the  Republican  League. 

Mr.  Napier  has  not  only  been  successful  as  a  lawyer 
and  politician,  but  financially  as  well.  Fortune  has 
followed  honor,  and  he  is  regarded  as  one  of  the  most 
substantial  citizens  of  Nashville.  May  we  not  hope 
that  such  an  exhibition  of  tact,  industry  and  intelli- 
gence will  be  an  inspiration  to  the  youth  of  the 
country  wherever  this  sketch  is  read. 


570  PROGRESS    OF    A    RACE. 

Colored  Attorneys  of  Nashville,  Tenn.: 

Abbot,  G.  T.  Hodgkins,  W.  H. 

Anderson,  G.  F.  Kizer,  J.  W. 

Cheairs,  H.  B.  Menefee,  A. 

Cameron,  H.  A.  Napier,  J.  C. 

Crosthwait,  W.  A.  McElwee,  S.  A. 

Ewing,  P.  A.  Robinson,  G.  T. 

Ewing,  T.  G.,  Sr.  Smith,  N.  B. 

Grant,  J.  W.  Woods,  Z.  T. 

The  Colored  Bar  of  Chicago. — Over  thirty  colored 
men  and  one  colored  woman  have  been  regularly  admit- 
ted to  the  Illinois  bar,  and  are  now  practicing  law  in 
Chicago.  Considering  the  fact  that  less  than  forty 
years  ago  a  large  majority  of  the  race  in  this  country 
to  which  these  colored  lawyers  belong,  and  that  sev- 
eral of  the  lawyers  themselves,  were  slaves,  the 
race  prejudice  that  they  had  to  overcome,  and  the  dif- 
ficulties they  had  to  encounter,  with  no  rich  and  influ- 
ential friends  to  give  them  a  helping  hand,  the  record 
they  have  made  at  the  bar  is  an  honor  to  the  race,  and 
well  may  their  example  be  held  up  to  the  colored  men 
and  women  of  other  cities  as  worthy  of  imitation.  It 
is  stated  on  good  authority  that  no  other  city  has  had 
as  large  a  number  of  colored  lawyers.  They  are  not 
only  graduates  of  law  colleges,  but  of  universities  as 
well.  Some  of  them  have  been  teachers  for  years. 

Names. — The  names  of  the  colored  lawyers  of 
Chicago  in  the  order  in  which  they  were  admitted  to 
the  bar  are:  Lloyd  G.  Wheeler,  Richard  A.  Dawson, 
Ferdinand  L.  Barnett,  Louis  Washington,  Edward  H. 
Morris,  J.  W.  E.  Thomas,  Maurice  Bauman,  John  G. 
Jones,  R.  O.  Lee,  George  W.  W.  Lytle,  S.  Laing 
Williams,  Franklin  A.  Dennison,  Charles  P.  Walker, 


17    ~  =.L     -.:  f   .  .Is  .  .  J.. 


Cdwsuvl  G. 


Lt-  -  "- 


Johnson,  S.  A.  T.  Watksss.  WTr.*^  H.  WSCT!  3L 
Max&s,  Albert  G.  HaUbaiO,  James  H.  LCTTJS,  J 
Locas,  Hale  Gaddisigs  Parker,  Jas.   E.  WlrSe!  W 
Akeis,  Charies  W.  Semid^u,  R.  >L  M:-j±«r.  WiT 
G.   Anderson,  Thomas  L.  Joamsr^.  M5ss  Ida  R 
Jobs    L.    Tnmer,    Beaan^aid    F.    M^^sely.    E. 
-••  r.;-"-: 


G.  Wheeler  ^>  ib      r- 


W. 
A. 


.  B 


H. 


Mr.  WHliams  ias  grrea 


572  PROGRESS  OF   A   RACE. 

Louis  Washington  was  born  in  Alabama.  His  com- 
plexion is  no  counterfeit,  it  is  plain,  genuine  black. 
He  was  a  slave  until  1863,  when,  inspired  by  the  love 
of  freedom,  not  having  heard  of  President  Lincoln's 
proclamation  freeing  the  slaves,  and  having  been  told 
there  was  a  large  army  at  Vicksburg  which  liberated 
all  the  slaves  who  came  into  its  lines,  he  left  his  mas- 
ter's service  unbidden,  walked  barefooted  from  Enon 
to  Vicksburg,  and  there  entered  the  service.  After 
the  war,  by  dint  of  hard  work  and  strict  economy,  he 
succeeded  in  acquiring  money  enough  to  attend  school. 
While  at  Wheaton  College,  Illinois,  the  bank  in  which 
he  deposited  his  money  failed,  and  he  lost  nearly  three 
hundred  dollars,  which  compelled  him  to  forego  the 
pleasure  of  completing  his  course.  He  afterward  took 
a  course  in  the  Union  College  of  Law,  and  was  admit- 
ted to  the  Illinois  bar  in  1879. 

E.  H.  Morris,  the  leader  of  the  colored  bar  in  Chi- 
cago, was  born  a  slave  in  Kentucky  in  1859.  He  has 
lived  in  Chicago  twenty-six  years.  When  he  was 
admitted  to  the  bar,  in  1879,  he  was  unable  to  purchase 
a  suit  of  clothes  to  make  himself  presentable,  and  so 
kept  on  his  long  overcoat,  and  during  the  examination 
had  it  buttoned  up  so  as  not  to  show  the  fractures 
which  time  and  wear  had  made  in  his  antiquated  pants. 
Contrast  the  situation  of  this  poor  lawyer  with  that  of 
the  Mr.  Morris  of  today !  He  now  receives  in  cash  for 
his  professional  services  over  ten  thousand  dollars  a 
year,  not  including  his  services  as  south  town  attor- 
ney. He  is  worth  more  than  $50,000  in  Chicago  real 
estate. 

J.  IjT.  E.  Thomas  served  a  year  in  the  Illinois  House 
of  Representatives,  and  is  among  the  wealthiest 
colored  men  in  the  city  of  Chicago. 


PERSONAGES  OF  THE  AFRO- AMERICAN  RACE. 


573 


8.  Laing  Williams  entered  the  University  of  Mich- 
igan and  graduated  with  the  class  of  1881,  receiving 
the  A.  B.  degree. 
After  teaching  for 
some  time  in  Ala- 
bama, he  was  ap- 
pointed to  a  position 
in  the  Pension  office 
at  Washington.  In 
1885  h**  resigned  and 
came  to  Chicago  to 
practice  law.  While 
in  Washington  he  en- 
tered the  law  depart- 
ment of  the  Colum- 
bian University,  and 
after  finishing  his 
course  took  post- 
graduate work  in  the 
same  school.  Mr. 
Williams  is  a  fine 
student,  and  in  schol- 
arly ability  has  no  superior  among  the  colored  lawyers 
of  Chicago.  He  is  the  husband  of  Mrs.  Fannie  Barrier 
Williams,  who  is  the  first  and  only  colored  woman  ever 
admitted  to  membership  in  the  Chicago  Woman's 
Club. 

Franklin  A.  Dennison  was  born  in  San  Antonio, 
Texas,  and  educated  at  Lincoln  University,  Pennsyl- 
vania, and  was  admitted  to  the  Illinois  bar  in  1879. 
For  a  number  of  years  he  was  chief  assisting  prose- 
cuting attorney. 

Miss  Ida  Platt  was  born  in  Chicago  of  colored 
parents,  September,  1863.  She  was  educated  in  the 


S.  LAING  WILLIAMS. 


»74 


PROGRESS  OF  A  RACE. 


public  schools  of  Chicago,  and  graduated  from  the 
High  School  with  honor  at  the  age  of  sixteen.  She  u 
the  only  colored  woman  admitted  to  the  Illinois  bar. 
For  nearly  nine  years  she  was  private  secretary  in 

an   insurance    office, 

I  then,  while  stenog- 
'  rapher  in  a  law 
office,  commenced 
the  study  of.  law. 
She  graduated  from 
the  Chicago  College 
of  Law  in  1894,  and 
received  her  license 
to  practice  in  June 
of  that  year.  One 
of  the  judges  of  the 
court,  in  signing  his 
name  to  her  license, 
said:  "We have  done 
today  what  we  never 
did  before ;  admitted 
a  colored  woman  to 
the  bar;  and  it  may 
now  be  truly  said 
that  persons  are  now 
admitted  to  the  Illi- 
nois bar  without  re- 
gard to  race,  sex  or  color. ' '  Miss  Platt  is  a  woman  of 
very  decided  ability,  and  entered  upon  her  professional 
career  with  talents  possessed  by  few. 

Taylor  G.  Ewing  was  born  of  slave  parents  near 
Nashville  in  1849.  He  experienced  all  the  horrors  of 
slavery  until  1861,  when  he  ran  off,  going  to  Nash- 
ville, where  he  managed  to  get  work  at  Fort  Negley. 


MISS   IDA    PLATT,   OF    CHICAGO. 

First  colored  lady  admitted  to  the  bar 
in  Illinois. 


PERSONAGES  OF  THE  AFRO- AMERICAN  RACE.  575 

After  the  close  of  the  war,  he  began  work  as  a  barber. 
During  the  evening  he  attended  school  with  the  deter- 
mination to  obtain  an  education.  He  then  went  to 
teaching,  and  taught  school  for  four  years,  and  then 
received  an  appointment  in  the  revenue  service,  which 
he  held  until  1885.  During  this  time,  he  began  the 
study  of  law,  and  in  1886  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar, 
and  since  then  has  engaged  in  the  practice  of  law,  and 
has  succeeded  in  building  up  a  large  and  lucrative 
practice.  By  thrift  and  economy  he  has  accumulated 
considerable  property,  and  is  estimated  to  be  worth 
about  $10,000. 

Alfred  Menefee. — Probably  the  oldest  colored  man 
practicing  law  is  Alfred  Menefee.  He  is  seventy 
years  of  age,  and  is  a  successful  lawyer  in  Nashville, 
although  he  has  never  had  the  advantages  of  a  schol- 
astic training. 

J.  W.  Grant, — In  the  fourth  year  of  the  war,  J.  W. 
Grant  was  taken  from  his  home  near  Sparta,  Tennes- 
see, by  the  i4th  U.  S.  colored  troops.  After  cxpe 
riencing  the  hardships  of  soldier  life,  he  returned  to  his 
mother,  and  then,  besides  attempting  to  support  his 
mother  and  sisters,  he  attended  school  as  best  he  could 
until  he  was  sufficiently  educated  to  teach.  He  enter- 
ed Fisk  University  in  1871.  The  close  of  the  first  year 
found  him  without  a  dollar  or  any  opening  to  make  a 
cent.  Not  being  able  to  secure  means  to  return  to 
school,  he  taught  for  twelve  successive  years.  In  1887 
he  entered  Central  Tennessee  College,  graduating  in 
1890,  and  immediately  entered  the  law  department  of 
that  institution.  In  1894  he  was  chosen  a  member  oi 
the  faculty  of  the  law  department  of  Central  Tennes- 
see College,  and  in  1895  he  was  elected  Dean  of  the  col 
lege,  which  position  he  now  holds.  He  is  worth  $10,  ooo, 


576  PROGRESS    OF    A    RACE. 

and  has  a  beautiful  residence  in  Nashville.  His  only 
daughter  will  graduate  from  Fisk  University  in  1899. 

William  Richard  Morris  was  born  February  22, 
1859,  near  Flemingsburg,  Kentucky.  He  entered 
Fisk  University  at  Nashville,  Tennessee,  when  seven- 
teen years  of  age,  and  graduated  with  high  honors 
from  the  classical  department  in  the  class  of  1884.  As 
a  student  he  was  apt,  studious,  strictly  first  grade  in 
all  his  studies,  and  was  known  as  a  bright  scholar,  a 
fine  essayist,  a  logical  debater,  a  correct  thinker,  and 
an  eloquent,  forcible  speaker.  For  five  years  he  taught 
in  Fisk  University,  giving  entire  satisfaction  in  teach- 
ing mathematics,  languages  and  the  sciences.  He  was 
at  the  time  the  only  colored  teacher  of  the  institution. 

In  1885,  he  represented  the  colored  people  of  the 
South  at  the  annual  meeting  of  the  A.  M.  A.,  at  Mad- 
ison, Wisconsin,  and  delivered  an  address  entitled, 
* '  The  Negro  at  Present, ' '  that  won  for  him  a  broad 
reputation.  In  1886,  the  State  Superintendent  of 
Education  of  Tennessee  employed  him  to  hold  insti- 
tutes for  colored  teachers  of  that  state. 

He  received  the  degree  of  Master  of  Arts  from  his 
Alma  Mater  in  1887,  and  the  same  year  was  admitted 
to  the  bar  by  the  Supreme  Court  of  Illinois  in  a  class 
of  twenty-four,  he  being  the  only  colored  man.  In 
the  examination  he  and  two  others  received  the  same 
and  highest  mark.  He  has  also  been  admitted  to  the 
bar  by  the  Supreme  Court  of  Tennessee,  and  practiced 
some  at  Chicago  and  Nashville. 

In  June,  1889,  he  resigned  his  position  at  Fisk 
University,  came  to  Minneapolis,  and,  having  been 
admitted  to  the  bar  by  the  Supreme  Court,  opened  a 
law  office,  and  was  the  first  colored  lawyer  to  appear 
before  the  courts  of  Hennepin  county,  Minnesota 


PERSONAGES    OF    THE    AFRO-AMERICAN    RACE. 


577 


HON.  JOHN  M.  LANGSTON. 

Hon.  John  M.  Langston,  A.  M.,  LL.  D.,  was  born  a 
slave  in  Virginia.  He  takes  the  name  of  his  mother. 
His  father  was  his  owner,  and  upon  his  death  John 

87  Progress. 


578  PROGRESS  OF  A  RACE. 

5vas  set  free.  Thereupon  he  was  sent  to  Ohio,  and 
educated  at  Oberlin,  graduating  in  1853.  In  1867 
he  was  appointed  inspector  of  the  colored  schools, 
and  made  a  trip  through  the  South,  and  the  same 
year  was  admitted  to  practice  in  the  United  States 
Supreme  Court.  For  some  years  he  was  dean  of 
the  law  department  of  Howard  University.  In  1877 
he  was  appointed  Minister  to  Hayti  by  President 
Hayes.  Upon  his  return  in  1885,  he  was  elected 
president  of  the  Virginia  Normal  and  Collegiate  Insti- 
tute, which  position  he  filled  for  two  years,  and  was 
then  elected  a  member  of  the  List  Congress  to  represent 
the  state  of  Virginia.  Mr.  Langston  has  exerted  a 
wide  influence  for  good  on  the  race  in  the  many  posi- 
tions he  has  held.  He  has  for  years  been  at  the  head 
of  the  legal  profession  among  men  of  his  color  in 
Washington.  He  is  a  man  of  wealth,  and  lives  in  his 
beautiful  "Hillsdale  Cottage"  in  Washington.  Mr. 
Langston  is  one  of  the  ablest  lawyers  of  his  race.  He 
is  author  of  "Freedom  and  Citizenship"  and  "From 
the  Virginia  Plantation  to  the  National  Capitol. ' ' 

Isaac  F.  Bradley. — This  gentleman  is  a  rising  young 
lawyer  of  Kansas  City,  Wyandotte  county,  Kansas.  He 
is  studious,  honorable  and  upright  in  his  dealings,  and 
is  highly  respected  by  both  bench  and  bar  of  Wyan- 
dotte county,  and  well  deserves  the  success  he  is  now 
enjoying. 

Mr.  Bradley  was  born  at  Hazelwood  Hall,  near  Cam- 
bridge, Saline  county,  Missouri,  September  8,  1862. 

As  a  result  of  the  criminal  practice  of  that  cruel 
institution  which  flourised  at  that  time,  he  never  saw 
his  father;  hence,  from  the  beginning  his  way  was 
not  smooth,  thus  he  received  very  little  schooling  in 
his  youth.  Being  anxious,  however,  to  obtain  a  good 


PERSONAGES  OF  THE  AFRO-AMERICAN  RACE.  579 

education,  he  saved  his  earnings,  and  in  1881,  entered 
Lincoln  Institute  at  Jefferson  City,  Missouri,  from 
which  he  graduated  with  the  full  course  in  June, 
1885.  In  the  fall  of  the  same  year  he  entered  the  law 
school  of  the  Kansas  State  University ;  took  the  degree 
LL.  R,  June  1887,  and  was  admitted  to  the  practice 
of  law ;  opened  an  office  in  Kansas  City,  Kansas,  and 
now  enjoys  a  good  practice.  In  April,  1889,  he  was 
elected  justice  of  the  peace  for  two  years,  and  dis- 
charged the  duties  with  credit.  He  is  active  in  polit- 
ics, ready  and  willing  at  all  times  to  espouse  the  cause 
of  his  race.  He  is  now  first  assistant  prosecuting 
attorney  of  Wyandotte  county,  Kansas,  the  most  pop- 
ulous and  wealthy  county  in  the  state. 

B.  S.  Smith,  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  is  one  of  the 
most  widely,  as  well  as  favorably,  known  negro  attor- 
neys west  of  the  Mississippi  river.  He  was  born  in 
Arkansas,  August  6,  1862,  of  slave  parentage.  Left 
an  orphan  at  an  early  age,  he  wandered  to  central 
Illinois,  where  in  1876  he  took  up  his  residence  in 
Springfield,  and  entered  the  public  schools  of  that 
city,  working  for  his  board  and  lodging,  and  in  1883 
graduated  with  honor  from  the  High  School  (one  of 
the  finest  in  the  state).  Thereupon  he  immediately 
secured  employment  on  a  stock  farm  in  Logan  county, 
where  he  worked  until  October,  1884,  when,  having 
earned  sufficient  money  to  attend  college,  he  entered 
the  law  department  of  the  University  of  Michigan, 
and  graduated  from  that  institution  in  1886. 

Mr.  Smith  immediately  entered  upon  the  practice  of 
his  profession,  locating  in  Kansas  City,  Kansas,  in 
1887,  where  he  now  has  a  lucrative  and  growing  prac- 
tice, stands  high  in  the  community,  having  served 
four  years  as  an  alderman  in  his  adopted  home,  and 


580 


PROGRESS   OF    A    RACE. 


was  elected  on  the  Republican  ticket,  presidential 
elector  in  1892.  He  has  now  abandoned  politics 
altogether,  and  devotes  his  entire  time  to  his  practice. 


HON.   S.  J.   JENKINS,    AUSTIN,  TEXAS. 

S.  J.  Jenkins  is  a  prominent  lawyer  of  Austin,  Texas. 
He  has  been  prominent  in  politics,  and  is  at  present 
President  of  the  Deaf,  Dumb  and  Blind  Asylum  at 
Austin. 

Daniel  M.  Mason  is  one  of  the  prominent  lawyers  of 
Dallas,  Texas.  Mr.  Mason  entered  Howard  Univer- 
sity in  1886,  graduating  in  1890.  He  then  entered 


PERSONAGES  OF  THE  AFRO-AMERICAN  RACE.  581 

the  law  department  of  this  institution,  and  graduated 
with  honors  two  years  later.  Since  then  he  has  prac- 
ticed law  in  Dallas,  Texas,  and  as  a  young  man  of  his 
profession  is  meeting  with  success. 

THE    COLORED    MAN    IN    MEDICINE. 

Voodoos. — When  the  civil  war  was  over,  and  the 
smoke  of  battle  had  cleared  away,  the  field  in  the 
South  was  occupied  by  the  red-eyed  "voodoo,"  who 
styled  himself  a  "doctor."  There  were,  at  that  time, 
possibly  two  or  three  exceptions  to  this  rule,  but  only 
two  or  three. 

Should  you  ask  these  voodoos,  better  known  among 
the  illiterate  as  ' 'root- workers, "  what  might  be  their 
business,  the  answer  would  quickly  be  given  something 
like  this:  "My  trade,  dat  am  a  doctor. "  "Is  that  so?" 
"Yes,  sar,  I  is  a  root  doctor  from  'way  back;  and  when 
I  gets  done  standing  at  de  forks  ob  de  road  at  midnight, 
pullin'  up  roots  twixt  de  hollowing  ob  de  owels,  and 
gittin'  a  little  fresh  dirt  from  de  grave  yard,  honey, 
der  am  suffin  'agwinter  drop. " 

This  being,  with  his  weird  stories,  went  forth  among 
a  people  who  were  rocked,  as  it  were,  in  the  cradle  of 
superstition,  and  early  became  monarch  of  all  he  sur- 
veyed. He  was  known  and  feared  throughout  the 
country.  He  claimed  to  be  able  to  cure  anything  from 
consumption  to  an  unruly  wife  or  husband,  and  fur- 
nishing charms  to  make  love  matches,  and  to  keep  the 
wife  or  husband  at  home,  was-  one  of  his  specialties. 

Every  patient  they  called  on  they  diagnosed  the 
trouble  thus:  He  or  she  was  tricked;  if  pneumonia, 
they  were  tricked ;  if  a  fever,  they  were  tricked ;  or  if 
a  case  of  consumption,  they  were  tricked. 

Their  stock  of  medicine,  if  such  we  must  call  it, 


582  PROGRESS   OF  A   RACE. 

generally  consisted  of  such  things  as  these :  small  bags 
of  graveyard  soil,  rabbits'  feet,  rusty  nails,  needles, 
pins,  goose  grease,  snake  skins,  and  many  other  such 
things. 

I  say,  a  little  more  than  a  generation  ago,  this  was 
the  class  of  so-called  "colored  doctors"  that  predomi- 
nated in  the  South,  and  which  for  many  years  was  a 
great  stumbling  block  to  the  educated  physicians  of 
our  race,  because  it  seemed  to  be  understood  that  all 
"colored  doctors"  were  and  must  be  "root  doctors." 

But  thank  Him  who  holds  the  destinies  of  races  in 
His  hands  that  in  the  flight  of  years,  and  in  this 
electric  age  of  progress,  this  "voodoo  doctor"  has 
almost — not  entirely,  but  almost — passed  away,  while 
his  territory  is  being  occupied  by  colored  physicians 
whose  qualifications  in  education,  character  and  honor 
are  equal  to  similar  qualifications  in  the  physicians  of 
any  other  race. 

The  Contrast. — Thirty  years  ago,  there  were  few,  if 
any,  Negro  physicians  to  be  found,  says  Dr.  L.  T. 
Burbridge,  while  today  there  is  scarcely  a  Southern 
town  and  a  large  proportion  of  the 'Northern  towns 
and  cities  that  cannot  boast  of  one  or  more  colored 
physicians,  regular  graduates  of  authorized  medical 
colleges.  While  this  is  true,  we  are  compelled  to 
admit  that  there  is  a  field  for  many  more.  It  is  esti- 
mated that  there  is  one  white  physician  to  every  300 
of  his  people,  while  there  is  only  one  colored  doctor  to 
every  9,000  of  his  people.  This  furnishes  an  idea  of 
our  need,  for  we  feel  assured  that  when  the  colored 
physician  become  more  numerous,  so  as  not  to  be  a 
rare  object,  then  he  will  be  more  respected  by  all 
classes  of  people.  Then,  too,  we  feel  proud  to  state 
that  the  practice  of  the  colored  doctor  is  by  no  means 


PERSONAGES  OF  THE  AFRO-AMERICAN  RACE.  583 

confined  solely  to  his  own  race.  The  Negro  physician 
enjoys  in  many  instances  a  small  but  growing  white  pat- 
ronage. This,  in  itself,  is  a  confession  of  a  recognition 
of  skill  and  ability,  wrung-,  as  it  were,  from  the  lips 
of  the  oppressor. 

Patronage. — The  colored  physician  does  not  ask 
patronage  on  the  score  of  color,  and  on  the  other  hand 
he  does  not  want  to  be  denied  work  on  that  account. 
He  does  not  ask  that  allowances  be  made  for  his  defi- 
ciencies because  he  is  a  Negro,  and  on  the  other  hand, 
he  does  not  want  to  be  denied  the  privileges  that  skill 
and  ability  should  demand  for  any  medical  man, 
whether  white  or  black.  A  recognition  of  skill  and 
competency  is  all  that  he  asks,  regardless  of  color.  In 
other  words,  he  wants  to  be  treated  as  a  man — one 
who  has  fully  prepared  himself  to  do  the  work  as 
thoroughly  and  skillfully  as  any  other  man,  of  what- 
ever nationality.  The  Negro  physician  realizes  the 
fact  that  this  is  his  only  hope  for  successfully  overcom- 
ing the  many  discouraging  features  of  his  work,  and 
with  this  fact  in  view,  he  has  ever  bent  diligently  to 
the  accomplishment  of  the  task  set  before  him. 

Advantages. — The  advantages  offered  to  the  colored 
man  for  a  medical  education  are  good.  Meharry,  New 
Orleans  and  Shaw  Medical  Colleges,  in  the  South,  are 
doing  good  work,  and  in  the  North  but  few,  if  any, 
doors  are  closed  against  the  colored  aspirant;  while 
England,  France  and  Germany  all  extend  to  him  a  wel- 
coming hand.  And,  if  yet  we  have  not  a  Treve,  we 
have  a  Newman,  if  we  have  not  a  Koch,  we  have  a 
Stewart,  and  if  we  have  not  a  Sims,  we  have  a  Boyd. 
These  are  among  the  pioneers  of  the  Negro  medical 
profession,  and  where  they  leave  off  their  posterity 
will  take  up  and  carry  on  the  work  so  well  begun. 


584  PROGRESS   OF   A   RACE. 

Influence. — While  the  farmer,  the  mechanic,  the 
teacher,  the  newspaper  man,  and  the  lawyers  of  our 
race  are  laboring  in  their  spheres,  the  physicians  of 
the  race  are  spending  their  talents,  their  little  means, 
and  their  life  for  the  elevation  of  their  people,  physi- 
cally, morally  and  spiritually,  and  too  often  without 
remuneration.  These  men  are  doing  much  good  for 
their  people  and  the  communities  in  which  they  live. 

Physicians  of  Today. — The  colored  physicians  in 
the  South  today  are  men  and  women  fully  equipped 
in  education,  morals  and  integrity  for  the  high  calling 
they  have  elected,  as  their  noble  work  will  show. 

In  the  United  States  today  there  are  about  one  thou- 
sand colored  physicians,  men  and  women,  and  more 
than  seven  hundred  of  them  are  located  in  the  Southern 
states.  While  they  represent  the  homeopathic  and 
eclectic  schools,  yet  the  regulars  are  largely  in  the 
majority. 

Women, — The  colored  women  have  gone  into  the 
profession  very  rapidly.  They  are  scattered  through- 
out the  South,  and  are  doing  a  good  practice.  While 
most  of  the  medical  schools  are  open  to  them,  they 
come  largely  from  Ann  Arbor,  Howard,  Meharry  and 
the  school  in  Kentucky,  and  also  the  Woman'  s  Med- 
ical College  of  Philadelphia.  Dr.  Alice  McCain,  of 
Savannah,  Georgia,  is  the  only  lady  physician  in  that 
state.  Her  husband  is  a  fine  physician  also.  She  is  a 
graduate  of  the  Woman's  Medical  College  of  Philadel- 
phia, and  he  of  the  University  of  Vermont. 

There  is  one  thing  commendable  about  our  female 
physicians,  as  well  as  our  male  ph)^sicians,  and  that  is 
they  come  from  good  schools,  and  are  fully  prepared 
for  their  work.  They,  too,  should  be  encouraged  as 
they  go  forth  to  their  labors. 


PERSONAGES  OF  THE  AFRO-AMERICAN  RACE.  585 

Reception  by  White  Profession.— The  white  phy- 
sicians of  the  South,  especially  the  better  class  of 
them,  give  the  colored  members  of  the  profession  a 
hearty  welcome  into  the  field.  They  always  have  a 
kind  word  for  them;  they  encourage  the  people  to 
employ  their  own  physicians;  they  lend  them  their 
instruments,  and  come  in  consultation  whenever  called. 
This  is  not  local,  but  is  reported  to  us  from  all  parts 
of  the  South. 

Their  Wealth. — The  colored  physicians  in  the  South, 
most  of  them,  are  in  better  circumstances  than  their 
brethren  in  the  North  and  East.  Most  of  them  have 
beautiful  homes,  fine  horses,  city  and  town  lots ;  while 
some  have  plantations  and  others  large  bank  accounts. 
One  of  the  wealthiest  colored  physicians  with  whom 
we  are  acquainted  is  Dr.  H.  T.  Noel,  of  Tennessee, 
whose  wealth  is  estimated  to  be  about  $85,000. 

The  American  Medical  Association  of  Colored  Phy- 
sicians and  Surgeons  was  organized  in  November, 
1895,  at  Atlanta,  Georgia.  Its  necessity  grew  out  of 
the  fact  that  colored  physicians  of  the  South  are  not 
admitted  to  the  old  organization.  The  second  bi-ennial 
meeting  will  be  held  in  Nashville,  Tennessee,  October 
15  and  1 6,  1897.  A  large  attendance  is  expected. 

Dr.  R.  F.  Boyd,  of  Nashville,  Tennessee,  is  presi- 
dent; Dr.  D.  L.  Martin  is  secretary.  The  programme 
of  the  coming  session  includes  many  of  the  most 
prominent  colored  physicians  of  the  country. 

The  Southern  Empire  State  Medical  Association 
of  Georgia  held  its  fourth  annual  meeting  in  Macon, 
July  i  and  2,  1897.  This  association  is  composed  of 
the  colored  physicians  and  surgeons  of  the  state.  It 
is  in  a  flourishing  condition.  It  was  organized  by  Dr. 
H.  R.  Butler,  A.  M..,  M.  D.,  who  was  elected  the  first 
president  and  served  one  year. 


586 


PROGRESS    OF    A    RACE. 


The  colored  physicians  are  organized  in  six  states: 
North  Carolina,  South  Carolina,  Georgia,  Tennessee, 
Florida,  and  Texas. 

Dr.  Robert  Fulton  Boyd  was  born  in  Giles  county, 


DR.    R.    F.    BOYD, 

Professor  in  Meharry  Medical  College,  Nashville,  Tenn. 


Tennessee,   where  he  spent  his  early  boyhood  days. 
At  the  age  of  eight  years,  he  was  taken  to  Nashville 


PERSONAGES    OF    THE    AFRO-AMERICAN    RACE.          587 

to  live  with  Dr.  Paul  Eve,  a  noted  surgeon  of  his  day. 
It  was  here  that  he  first  conceived  the  idea  of  making 
a  physician  of  himself.  He  attended  night  school  at 
the  old  Fisk  School,  and  learned  to  spell  and  to  lead 
from  McGuffey's  First  Reader;  from  1868  to  1870  he 
worked  on  a  farm,  then  returned  to  Nashville  to  learn 
the  brick  trade.  He  had  not  yet  learned  to  write,  and 
was  anxious  for  an  education,  and  in  1872  hired  himself 
to  Gen.  James  Hickman  to  work  half  a  day  and  go  to 
school  the  other  half.  He  earned  enough  for  clothing 
by  teaching  old  colored  people  their  letters,  so  that 
they  might  read  the  Bible.  In  1875  he  began  teaching 
school  and  rapidly  rose  in  that  profession.  He  became 
principal  of  the  Pulaski  schools,  and  was  employed  by 
the  State  Superintendent  to  hold  state  institutes  for 
colored  teachers  in  middle  Tennessee.  In  1880  he 
entered  Meharry  Medical  College,  and  graduated  in 
1882.  In  the  same  year^he  was  appointed  adjunct  pro- 
fessor of  chemistry  in  Meharry  Medical  College,  and 
at  the  same  time  entered  the  college  department  of 
Central  Tennessee  College,  graduating  in  1886.  He 
then  entered  the  dental  department  of  Meharry  Medi- 
cal College,  and  graduated  in  1887.  He  paid  his  ex- 
penses all  this  time  by  teaching  in  the  various  depart- 
ments of  the  Central  Tennessee  College.  In  1887  he 
entered  the  practice  of  his  profession  in  Nashville, 
where  he  has  since  done  a  work  second  in  importance 
and  magnitude  to  no  other  physician. 

Mr.  Boyd  is  a  hard  worker,  and  uses  all  his  powers 
to  elevate  and  educate  his  race:  He  is  a  typical  ex- 
ample of  what  young  men  can  do  in  spite  of  the 
greatest  opposition.  He  has  built  for  himself  a 
practice  that  is  an  honor  to  any  man.  His  office,  in- 
struments, horses  and  buggies  compare  favorably  with 


588  PROGRESS   OF  A  RACE. 

those  of  any  other  physician.  He  has  instituted  a 
society  for  the  study  of  sociology  and  ethics  among 
colored  people.  In  this  respect  alone  he  has  done 
much  for  the  betterment  of  the  colored  people  in  Nash- 
ville. In  1890  he  took  a  post-graduate  course,  and  in 
1892  he  took  a  second  post-graduate  course  in  a  Chicago 
medical  college.  He  is  at  present  a  member  of  the 
faculty  of  Meharry  Medical  College,  being  professor 
of  gynecology  and  clinical  medicine.  He  owns  the 
valuable  property,  417  and  419  Cedar  street,  Nashville, 
worth  $20,000.  It  is  a  building  used  for  offices,  and 
contains  forty  rooms.  He  was  once  nominated  candi- 
date for  mayor  of  Nashville,  and  the  legislature  of 
Tennessee.  Connected  with  his  office  is  an  infirmary 
for  the  care  of  the  sick  and  surgical  cases.  Trained 
nurses  are  always  on  hand.  He  gives  two  hours  three 
times  a  week  to  the  sick  and  indigent  poor  during  the 
college  year.  Many  now  attend  his  free  clinic  and  are 
helped.  Dr.  Boyd  is  a  polite  and  affable  gentleman, 
respected  both  by  whites  and  blacks,  and  an  honor  to 
the  race  which  he  so  ably  represents.  He  is  president 
of  the  American  Medical  Association  of  Colored  Phy- 
sicians and  Surgeons,  and  in  every  respect  leads  his 
race  in  everything  that  is  elevating  and  ennobling. 
His  friends  are  urging  him  for  surgeon-in-chief  of  the 
Freedman's  Hospital  at  Washington,  D.  C.  He  is 
well  endorsed,  and  has  numerous  letters  of  recom- 
mendation and  petitions  to  President  McKinley  to 
appoint  him.  While  the  people  of  Nashville  are  glad 
to  see  Dr.  Boyd  honored  and  have  his  ambitions 
and  aspirations  gratified,  they  do  not  want  him  to 
leave  them. 

Daniel  H.  Williams,  Chicago,  111.,  son  of  Daniel  and 
Sarah  (Price)  Williams,  grandson  of  Daniel  Williams, 


PERSONAGES   OF   THE   AFRO-AMERICAN    RACE.         589 

was  born  January  18,  1858,  at  Hollidaysburg,  Pa. 
He  attended  the  Janesville,  Wis.,  high  school,  and  was 
graduated  from  the  Janesville  Classical  Academy  in 
1878.  Commenced  the  study  of  medicine  at  Janesville  in 
1880,  under  Surgeon-General  Henry  Palmer;  attended 
three  courses  of  lectures  at  Chicago  Medical  College, 
from  which  he  was  graduated  March  28,  1883,  his 
education  having  been  obtained  through  his  own  exer- 
tions, his  parents  being  unable  to  render  financial 
assistance.  In  May,  1883,  he  located  permanently  in 
the  practice  of  medicine  in  Chicago. 

Dr.  Williams  is  a  member  of  the  American  Medical 
Association,  Illinois  State  Medical  Society,  Chicago 
Medical  Society,  and  Ninth  International  Medical  Con- 
gress. He  was  surgeon  to  South  Side  Dispensary, 
Chicago,  i884-'92;  Surgeon  to  Provident  Hospital, 
1 890- '93;  physician  to  Protestant  Orphan  Asylum, 
1 884- '93;  member  of  Illinois  State  Board  of  Health, 
1889;  reappointed,  1891.  He  is  also  a  member  of  the 
Hamilton  Club,  of  Chicago.  Was  appointed  surgeon 
in  charge  of  the  Freedmen's  Hospital,  Washington, 
D.  C.,  February  15,  1894. 

Dr.  Williams  stands  at  the  head  of  the  list  of  the 
great  surgeons  of  our  country.  He  came  into  promi- 
nence when  a  very  young  man  a  few  years  ago  by  per- 
forming one  of  the  most  difficult  of  surgical  operations 
on  the  heart  and  pericardium,  which  properly  consisted 
in  operating  upon  and  saving  the  life  of  a  man  who 
had  been  stabbed  in  the  heart.  Since  his  advent  to 
Freedmen's  Hospital  he  has  continued  to  perform  very 
difficult  operations,  and  has  directed  more  attention  to 
Freedmen's  and  the  work  being  done  there  than  many 
institutions  of -the  kind  in  the  country.  He  recently 
performed  an  operation  which  is  regarded  by  the  med- 


590 


PROGRESS   OF   A   RACE. 


ical  profession  as  not  only  one  of  the  rarest,  but  also 
one  of  the  most  hazardous — the  Caesarian  section.  The 
race  has  reason  to  be  proud  of  him  for  the  great  service 
he  is  rendering  it. 


J.   W.   E.   BOWEN,   D.    D.,   PH.   D. 

Professor  of  Historical  Theology  in  Gammon  Theological 
Seminary. 

J.  W.  E.  Bowen,  D.  D.,  Ph.  D. — Doctor  Bowen  was 
born  in  New*  Orleans  in  1855.      His  father,   Edward 


PERSONAGES   OF    THE    AFRO-AMERICAN    RACE.         591 

Bowen,  was  a  free  man,  his  mother  a  slave.  At  the  age 
of  five  the  boy  and  his  mother  were  bought  out  of  slav- 
ery by  the  father.  At  the  age  of  seventeen  young 
Bowen  entered  the  New  Orleans  University,  a  school 
established  by  the  Methodist  Episcopal  church  at  the 
close  of  the  Rebellion. 

Soon  after  his  graduation  from  the  university,  Doctor 
Bowen  became  professor  of  Latin  and  Greek  in  the 
Central  Tennessee  College  at  Nashville,  Tennessee. 

In  1882,  having  resigned  his  professorship,  he  en- 
tered Boston  University,  where  he  studied  for  four 
years.  In  1887  this  University  conferred  upon  him 
the  degree  of  Ph.D.  In  1892  he  received  the  degree 
of  D.D.  from  Gammon  Theological  Seminary. 

After  graduating  from  Boston  University  he  entered 
the  New  England  conference  of  the  Methodist  Epis- 
copal church. 

His  pastorates  included  leading  churches  in  Boston, 
Newark,  Baltimore,  and  Washington,  and  covered  a 
period  of  eleven  years.  While  pastor  of  the  church  in 
Washington,  he  pursued  the  study  of  the  Semitic  lan- 
guages. 

Doctor  Bowen 's  next  promotion  was  his  election  as 
professor  of  Historical  Theology  in  Gammon  Theo- 
logical Seminary  at  Atlanta,  Georgia,  which  position 
he  holds  at  this  writing. 

At  the  general  conference  of  his  church,  held  at 
Chicago  in  May,  1900,  he  came  within  a  few  votes  of 
being  elected  one  of  the  bishops  of  that  great  church. 

Amid  all  the  cares  of  the  pastorate  and  teacher  he 
found  time  to  do  much  writing.  Some  of  his  works 
are:  "Plain  Talks  to  the  Colored  People  of  America," 


592  PROGRESS  OF  A  RACE. 

44 Appeal  to  the  King,"  "The  Comparative  Status  of 
the  Negro  at  the  Close  of  the  War  and  To-day/' 
"The  Struggle  for  Supremacy  between  Church  and 
State  in  the  Middle  Ages,"  "The  American  and  the 
African  Negro,"  "University  Addresses,"  and  "Dis- 
cussions iu  Philosophy  and  Theology." 

David  Lee  Johnstone  enrolled  as  a  student  at  the 
State  Normal  School  at  Tuskegee,  September  14,  1885, 
completing  the  course  in  1889.  His  vacations  were 
spent  at  Pratt  City,  Alabama,  working  there  as  a 
miner  to  earn  money  enough  to  return  to  school  in  the 
fall  and  to  support  an  invalid  father. 

After  completing  his  course  he  returned  to  Pratt 
City,  and  found  employment  as  a  teacher  in  the  public 
schools,  which  position  he  held  for  four  years.  Having 
a  desire  to  complete  a  course  in  pharmacy  and  not 
being  able  to  accumulate  a  sufficient  amount  at  teach- 
ing, he  resigned  and  accepted  a  contract  in  the  mines 
at  Milldale,  Alabama.  This  employment,  although 
very  hard,  was  more  lucrative,  and  the  ist  of  Septem- 
ber, 1894,  he  entered  the  pharmaceutical  department 
of  Meharry  Medical  College,  Nashville,  fouring 
vacation  he  continued  working  in  the  mines.  At 
graduation  he  was  elected  by  the  members  of  his  class 
to  represent  them  in  the  commencement  exercises. 
He  soon  found  employment  with  the  Peoples'  Drug 
Company,  of  Birmingham,  Alabama, 

In  April,  1896,  he  opened  the  Union  Drug  Store,  at 
Birmingham,  Alabama,  and  continued  in  it  until 
December  of  that  year,  when  it  was  swept  out  by  fire. 
His  purpose,  however,  was  not  to  be  defeated  by  losses, 
and  in  April,  1897,  he  again  opened  the  doors  of  the 
\Jnion  Drug  Company,  and  is  doing  a  prosperous  bus- 
iness. 


PERSONAGES   OP    THE    AFRO-AMERICAN    RACE.         593 


Dr.  W.  A.  Hadley  was  born  of  slave  parents  in  1850. 
He  attended  Fisk  University,  and  was  one  of  the  first 
normal  teachers  sent  out  from  that  institution.  In 
1878  he  entered  Meharry  Medical  College,  from  which 
he  graduated  in  1880.  After  practicing  medicine  four 
years,  he  returned  to  teaching,  and  is  at  present  prin- 
cipal of  one  of  the  Nashville  schools.  His  house  is 
modern  in  every  respect,  and  is  a  perfect,  ideal  home. 
One  remarkable  feature  in  Dr.  Hadley 's  home  is  a  col- 
lection of  pictures,  all  of  which  were  painted  by  his 
daughter,  who  is  the  principal  of  music  in  the  Tuskegee 
Normal  School,  and  enjoys  the  distinction  of  being 
the  first  graduate  in  music  from  Fisk  University.  Dr. 
Hadley 's  real  estate  and  other  property  are  valued  at 
$14,000. 

B.  E.  Scruggs,  M.  D.,  was  born  of  Christian  parents 

i  n  Huntsville,  A 1  a- 
bama.  He  received  his 
education  at  Central 
Alabama  College  and 
Central  Tennessee  Col- 
lege, at  Nashville.  He 
graduated  from  Me- 
harry Medical  College 
in  1897,  and  in  July  of 
the  same  year  he  passed 
the  state  medical  exam- 
ination, standing  high- 
est of  any  of  those  who 
were  examined  at  that 
time.  He  has  had  a 
successful  practice  ever 
since.  In  1892  he  was 


B.  E.  SCRUGGS,  M.  D., 

Huntsville,  Alabama. 


elected  alderman  of  the  city  of  Huntsville,  and  re- 

98  Progress. 


594  PROGRESS   OF   A   RACE. 

elected  in  1897  by  the  largest  vote  of  any  aspirant. 
He  is  the  first  Afro-American  of  Alabama  to  graduate 
from  a  school  of  medicine.  Dr.  Scruggs  was  married 
to  Miss  Sophia  J.  Davidson  in  1881.  He  owns  some 
property,  and  is  in  good  circumstances. 

Dr.  Ferdinand  A.  Stewart  was  born  in  Mobile,  Ala- 
bama, in  1862.  He  completed  the  classical  course  in 
Fisk  University  in  1885,  and  three  years  later  grad- 
uated in  the  medical  department  of  Harvard  University 
with  the  first  honors  of  his  class  of  over  one  hundred, 
all  of  whom  were  white  excepting  himself.  Since 
1888  he  has  been  practicing  medicine  in  Nashville,  and 
has  succeeded  admirably,  both  professionally  and 
financially.  He  has  no  other  ambition  than  to  serve 
his  people  in  his  professional  capacity. 

Dr.  Henry  Fitzbutler,  of  Louisville,  was  born  Decem- 
ber 22,  1842.  He  graduated  in  the  Michigan  University 
in  1872.  He  was  granted  a  charter  by.  the  legislature 
of  Kentucky  in  1888  to  practice  medicine,  having 
graduated  at  the  Louisville  National  Medical  College. 
He  was  the  first  regular  physician  of  the  Negro  race 
to  enter  upon  the  practice  of  medicine  in  the  state  of 
Kentucky. 

T.  T.  Wendell.— The  subject  of  this  sketch,  Mr.  T. 
T.  Wendell,  was  born  July  24,  1871,  at  Nashville,  Ten- 
nessee. At  an  early  age  he  evinced  great  aptitude  for 
study,  and  very  often  led  his  classes  in  the  public 
schools  of  his  native  city.  After  completing  the  pre- 
scribed course  in  the  city  schools,  and  possessing  a 
strong  desire  to  become  proficient  in  medicine,  he 
entered  Meharry  College,  where  he  pursued  his  studies 
with  diligence  and  vigor,  graduating  from  the  phar- 
maceutical department  in  the  class  of  1894,  with  marked 
distinction,  being  the  valedictorian  of  the  largest  class 
graduating  from  that  famous  institution. 


PERSONAGES  OF   THE   AFRO-AMERICAN   RACE.         595 

Mr.  Wendell,  now  realizing  that  it  was  time  for  him 
to  repay  his  widowed  mother  for  the  care  and  many 
sacrifices  she  made  for  his  advancement,  secured  a 
position  at  Henderson,  Kentucky,  as  manager  of  The 
Citizens'  Drug  Company,  which  position  he  held  until 
a  more  remunerative  one  was  offered  by  Dr.  W.  H. 
Ballard  at  Lexington.  He  is  now  filling  this  position 
to  the  satisfaction  of  his  employer  and  his  many 
friends,  who  are  numerous,  which  is  testified  to  by  the 
fact  that  although  in  the  Leader  (a  daily  paper)  contest 
for  the  most  popular  clerk  in  the  city,  he  was  opposed 
by  ten  others,  all  white,  yet  when  the  votes  were 
counted  Mr.  Wendell  had  over  five  hundred  votes 
more  than  his  next  highest  competitor. 

F.  B.  Coffin,  Ph.  G.,  Pharmacist  and  Poet.— F.  B. 
Coffin  was  born  in  1869,  in  Holly  Springs,  Mississippi. 
His  father  being  poor  and  having  a  large  family,  Frank 
had  very  meagre  educational  advantages.  At  the  age 
of  ten,  he  lost  his  best  earthly  friend,  his  mother.  His 
older  brothers  and  sisters  scattered  over  the  South,  as 
teachers,  and  morally  and  intellectually  he  was  left  to 
his  own  guidance.  He  was  raised  in  the  sturdy  mold 
of  tireless  industry.  Against  his  will,  but  to  please 
his  father,  he  stayed  on  the  farm  until  seventeen  years 
of  age,  receiving  three  months'  schooling  annually. 
He  read  all  kinds  of  literature  that  came  to  his  hand, 
good  and  bad,  but  through  the  influence  of  his  brothers, 
he  cast  away  the  trashy  novel  and  more  than  ever 
desired  an  education.  His  elder  brothers  having  left 
home,  he  was  his  father's  only  stay,  and  the  remark 
was  often  made,  "What  would  I  do  without  Frank." 
Through  correspondece  with  his  brothers,  the  desire  to 
attend  school  was  constantly  increasing,  and  in  1886, 
by  the  aid  and  consent  of  his  father  and  brothers,  he 


506  PROGRESS   OF    A    RACE. 

entered  Fisk  University,  where  both  his  brothers  had 
graduated.  He  spent  his  vacations  on  the  farm,  and 
in  1889,  with  his  father's  consent,  he  remained  in 
Nashville,  where  he  was  able  to  earn  more  money.  At 
the  beginning  of  his  senior  year,  he  was  called  home  by 
the  sickness  of  his  father.  This  was  a  severe  trial  to 
him,  as  he  was  thus  cut  off  from  his  classmates,  and 
not  permitted  to  graduate  with  them.  In  writing  to 
one  of  his  classmates,  he  says:  "If  misfortune  pre- 
vents my  graduating  with  you  you  will  hear  from  me 
somewhere,  for  Fisk  has  kindled  a  fire  of  determina- 
tion and  it  cannot  be  extinguished."  After  his 
father's  death,  he  taught  school  for  a  time,  but  was 
disgusted  with  it  through  the  fact  that  in  gaining  and 
holding  a  position  merit  was  drowned  by  political  wire- 
pulling. In  1891  he  entered  Meharry  Medical  College 
and  graduated  in  1893.  He  is  now  conducting  a  drug 
store  at  Little  Rock,  Arkansas,  and  is  thoroughly 
awake  to  the  necessity  of  competing  if  he  would  excel. 
He  takes  as  his  motto,  "No  step  backward,"  and  is 
working  with  all  the  energy  of  his  soul  to  range  among 
the  successful  ones  of  our  closing  century.  Mr.  Coffin 
has  just  published  a  volume  of  poems  of  about  two 
hundred  pages,  forty  of  which  relate  to  the  crime  of 
lynching..  He  is  preparing  another  book  of  poems, 
which  he  hopes  to  publish  in  the  near  future.  He  is  a 
lover  of  children,  and  is  actively  engaged  in  Christian 
work.  He  stands  fearlessly  for  right,  without  regard 
to  what  the  effect  may  be  upon  his  business. 

Dr.  Sarah  Helen  Fitzbutler  graduated  in  medicine 
and  surgery  in  the  Louisville  National  Medical  College 
with  the  class  of  1892.  Doctor  Butler  is  the  first 
woman  to  receive  the  regular  degree  to  practice  medi- 
cine in  Kentucky. 


PERSONAGES  OF  THE  AFRO-AMERICAN   RACE.        597 

The  Louisville  National  Medical  College  is  doing 
much,  by  its  thorough  work,  to  disarm  the  public  mind 
of  race  prejudice.  The  race  may  justly  feel  proud  of 
what  its  representatives  are  achieving.  Its  attain- 
ments are  worthy  of  schools  that  boast  of  much 
higher  standing. 

J.  B.  Banks,  M.  D.,  taught  school  for  a  short  time. 


DR.  J.  B.  BANKS,   NATCHEZ,   MISSISSIPPI. 

then  entered  Leland  University,  New  Orleans,  in  1877, 
working  evenings  and  mornings   for  his  board  and 


598  PROGRESS   OF    A    RACE. 

lodging.  The  yellow  fever  compelled  him  to  leave. 
He  then  went  to  the  country  where  he  obtained  a 
private  school  of  ten  or  fifteen  pupils.  After  paying 
his  board  of  $5  a  month,  he  had  one  dollar  left  for  his 
work.  He  afterward  succeeded  in  finding  better  pay- 
ing employment  and  managed,  besides  supporting  his 
aged  grandparents  through  the  next  winter,  to  save 
$30.  He  then  taught  for  a  number  of  years,  and 
entered  Meharry  Medical  College  in  1885.  After 
graduating  he  at  once  returned  to  Mississippi,  and 
passed  his  examination  before  the  State  Medical 
Board.  He,  with  seven  white  applicants,  was  success- 
ful, while  the  same  number  of  whites  were  unsuccess- 
ful. He  at  once  began  practicing  medicine,  and  in 
1889  moved  to  Natchez,  Mississippi,  where  he  has  a 
fair  practice.  In  1890  he  was  appointed  a  member  of 
the  Board  of  Surgeons  of  the  United  States  at  Natchez. 
Doctor  Banks  enjoys  the  esteem  of  his  own  race  and 
of  the  white  citizens  of  Natchez  and  the  surrounding 
country.  He  owns  a  comfortable  home,  valued  at 
$3,000;  is  married  and  has  two  children.  He  is  a, 
prominent  member  and  officer  of  the  African  M.  E. 
Church  of  Natchez. 

Thomas  A.  Curtis  was  born  in  Alabama.  His 
parents  were  slaves,  but  by  earnest  effort  his  father 
educated  himself  and  became  state  senator  from  Ala- 
bama. The  son,  after  graduating  from  the  State 
Normal  School,  taught  for  some  years  in  Texas,  and 
then  entered  Meharry  Dental  School,  from  which  he 
graduated  in  1889.  His  success  as  the  first  colored 
dentist  of  Alabama  is  assured.  During  the  first  year 
he  earned  more  than  $2,000.  With  such  an  energetic 
spirit  as  he  possesses  it  is  needless  to  say  that  he  has 
each  year  improved  in  proficiency  in  his  profession 
and  in  the  increase  of  his  practice. 


PERSONAGES    OF    THE    AFRO-AMERICAN    RACE.         599 

Prof,  Geo.  W.  Carver  is  director  of  the  agricultural 
department  of  the  famous  industrial  school  at  Tuske- 
gee,  Alabama.  He  is  a  graduate  of  the  State  Agricul- 
tural College  at  Ames,  Iowa,  from  which  he  received 
his  Master's  degree. 


PROF.  GEO.  W.  CARVER,   M.  AG. 

From  childhood  he  seems  to  have  had  a  passion  for 
music,  painting,  flowers,  stones,  minerals,  and  like 
objects  of  beauty  and  interest.  The  study  of  the  char- 


600  PROGRESS    OF    A    RACE. 

acter  and  productive  ability  of  soils  seem  to  have 
been  in  him  an  instinct.  As  a  boy  he  was  known 
as  the  " Plant  Doctor." 

His  painting,  the  "  Yucca  and  Cactus,"  was  exhibited 
at  the  World's  Fair  in  Chicago. 

It  is,  perhaps,  safe  to  say  that  he  has  the  largest 
private  collection  of  botanical  and  geological  speci- 
mens in  the  state  of  Alabama. 

But  in  order  to  reach  his  present  position  of  ability 
and  usefulness  he  had  a  long  and  weary  road  to  travel. 
He  was  born  a  slave  in  Missouri  during  the  period  of 
the  Civil  war.  Prof.  Carver  expresses  the  deepest 
gratitude  to  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Carver  to  whom  his  mother 
belonged  until  set  free  by  the  war.  For  some  years 
his  foster-parents  (Mr.  and  Mrs.  Carver)  cared  for 
him,  and  during  this  time  he  acquired  the  rudiments 
of  an  education. 

When  ten  years  of  age  he  began  his  wanderings 
through  Kansas,  Missouri,  and  Iowa,  in  his  struggles 
for  intellectual  and  bodily  food.  He  had  to  meet  not 
only  the  difficulties  of  an  ordinary  poor  boy  in  his 
efforts  to  gain  a  position  in  the  world,  but  he  must 
overcome  natural  race-prejudice  among  his  white  as- 
sociates. But  he  has  won  an  exalted  position  worthy 
the  best  minds. 

While  working  his  way  at  school  Carver  exhibited  a 
remarkably  versatile  mind.  At  one  time  he  was  a  suc- 
cessful laundryman,  at  another  a  skilled  cook,  and 
again  an  ingenious  milliner.  He  also  knit  his  own 
mittens  and  stockings.  He  shows,  with  commendable 
pride,  three  hundred  samples  of  knitting,  crocheting, 
and  embroidering. 


PERSONAGES   OF    THE   AFRO-AMERICAN    RACE.         601 
AUTHORS  AND  LITERARY  WORKERS. 

Paul  Laurence  Dunbar.— The  first  poet  of  his  race 
in  the  English  language  was  Paul  Laurence  Dunbar, 


PAUL  LAURENCE   DUNBAR, 

The  Famous  Colored  Poet 


whose  parents  were  full  blood  Negroes.  His  father 
escaped  from  slavery  in  Kentucky  to  freedom  in  Can- 
ada, and  at  a  time  when  there  was  no  hope  of  freedom 


602  PROGRESS    OF   A   RACE. 

otherwise.  His  mother  was  liberated  by  the  Emanci- 
pation Proclamation,  and  came  North  to  Ohio.  Paul 
was  born  at  Dayton,  Ohio,  and  grew  up  with  such 
opportunities  for  mental  training  as  befalls  the  chil- 
dren of  the  poor.  His  father  was  a  plasterer,  and 
after  learning  to  read,  he  loved  chiefly  to  read  history. 
His  mother  had  a  passion  for  literature,  with  a  special 
delight  for  poetry. 

After  his  father  died,  mother  and  son  struggled  on 
in  still  deeper  poverty.  His  writings  attracted  many, 
and  it  was  not  long  before  his  friends  recognized  that 
in  him  was  found  the  first  instance  of  an  American 
Negro  who  had  evinced  an  innate  distinction  in  litera- 
ture, although  many  of  his  race  had  proven  themselves 
proficient  in  music,  oratory,  and  some  of  the  other 
arts.  It  is  said  that  Paul  Dunbar  was  the  only  man 
of  pure  African  blood  and  of  American  civilization  to 
feel  the  Negro  life  aesthetically  and  to  express  it  lyrical- 
ly. While  all  of  his  poems  are  beautiful  in  sentiment, 
yet  those  pieces  where  he  studied  the  modes  and  traits 
of  his  race  we  find  the  most  charming.  His  refined  and 
delicate  art  is  shown  most  clearly  where  he  describes 
the  range  between  appetite  and  emotion.  He  reveals 
in  these  an  ironical  perception  of  the  Negro's  limita- 
tion with  a  tenderness  that  is  quite  new. 

If  Mr.  Dunbar  does  nothing  more  than  he  has  done, 
he  may  rightfully  be  said  to  have  made  the  strongest 
claim  for  the  Negro  in  English  literature  that  the 
Negro  has  ever  made.  Although  we  may  not  agree  in 
all  he  says,  we  can  hardly  refuse  to  enjoy  it. 

Well  may  it  be  said  of  many  of  his  productions  that 
they  are  works  of  art.  Let  us  notice  a  few  of  the 
many  beautiful  and  practical  sentiments  expressed. 
The  following  is  from  "Accountability"  : 


PERSONAGES   OF    THE    AFRO-AMERICAN   RACE.        603 

"But  we  all  fits  into  places  dat  no  othah  ones  could  fill, 
And  we  does  the  things  we  has  to,  big  er  little,  poor  er  ill. 
John  cain't  take  the  place  o'  Henry,  Su  an'  Sally  ain't  alike; 
Bass  aint  nuthin'  like  a  sucker,  shad  ain't  nuthin'  like  a  pike. 

When  you  come  to  think  about  it,  how  it's  all  planned  out,  it's 

splendid. 

Nuthin's  done  ere  evah  has  been  'dout  hit's  somefin'  dat's  intended ; 
Don't  keer  what  you  does,  you,  has  to,  an'  hit  sholy  beats  de 

dickens. 
Viney,  go  put  on  de  kettle,  I  got  one  o'  mastah's  chickens." 

Then  again,  notice  the  sentiment  expressed  in  the 
following  stanza  on  the  grand  old  man,  Frederick 
Douglass,  in  all  respects  the  representative  of  his 
race: 

"Through  good  and  ill  report,  he  cleaved  his  way  right,  with  his 

face  set  towards  the  heights, 
Nor  feared  to  face  the  foeman's  dread  array — 
The  lash  of  scorn,  the  sting  of  petty  spites. 
He  dared  the  lightning  in  the  lightning's  track, 
And  answered  thunder  with  his  thunder  back." 

What  poet  has  more  graphically  and  in  fewer  words 
expressed  the  realities  of  life  than  Mr.  Dunbar  in  the 
following  stanza: 

"A  crust  of  bread  and  a  corner  to  sleep  in, 
A  minute  to  smile,  and  an  hour  to  weep  in ; 
A  pint  of  joy  to  a  peck  of  trouble, 
And  never  a  laugh  but  the  moans  come  double ; 
And  that  is  life!" 

"Rising  of  the  Storm"  is  beautifully  expressed, 
while  "An  Ante-bellum  Sermon"  gives  us  an  insight 
into  the  real  life  of  the  Negro  of  those  days.  The 
"Banjo  Song"  carries  back  many  a  gray-haired  freed- 
man  to  the  time  when  the  banjo,  taken  from  the  wall, 
brought  cheer  and  comfort  to  the  weary  slave. 

Who   has  more  really  pictured  the  lawyer's  ways 


604  PROGRESS   OF    A    RACE. 

than  he  when  he  describes  the  effort  of  the  contending 
sides  to  paint  either  in  blackest  crime  the  condition  of 
the  persons  on  one  hand,  and  to  gild  with  virtuous 
graces  the  fair  name  as  seen  from  the  other  side? 
Pertinently  does  he  ask : 

"How  an  angel  an'  a  devil 
Can  persess  the  self -same  soul!" 

Our  sympathies  are  aroused  in  "Deacon  Jones' 
Grievance, ' '  when  he  so  pathetically  pleads  with  the 
parson  to  modify  the  "hifaluting  style"  of  modern 
song  in  the  churches,  and  the  objection  to  being  made 
an  object  of  ridicule,  when  a  solo  was  being  sung  and 
he  struck  in  to  help  the  poor  fellow  out,  and  the  whole 
church  scowled  at  him.  "The  Spelling  Bee"  brings 
to  mind  the  days  of  yore  so  vividly  that  we  wish  we 
were  there.  "Keep  Pluggin'  Away,"  although  a 
quaint  motto,  carries  with  it  many  a  noble  and  worthy 
truth. 

All  the  gallant  sons  of  Ham  that  have  fought  for 
freedom  are  anew  fired  with  the  spirit  of  patriotism 
and  loyalty  to  Uncle  Sam  in  reading  "The  Colored 
Soldiers, ' '  in  which  the  bravery  of  the  Negro  at  Fort 
Wagner  and  Fort  Pillow  are  so  graphically  set  forth. 
Well  does  it  close  with  this  stanza : 

"So  all  honor  and  all  glory  to  these  noble  sons  of  Ham, 
The  gallant  colored  soldiers  who  fought  for  Uncle  Sam." 

A  sigh  escapes  many  a  longing  heart  as  we  read  the 
"Ol'  Tunes,"  as  the  new-fashioned  anthems  prevent 
the  'joining  of  the  uncultured  and  untrained  voices. 
Every  Negro  rejoices  in  freedom,  and  yet  what  ex-slave 
who  was  blessed  with  a  humane  and  kind  master  does 
not  sigh  when  he  reads  4  *  The  Deserted  Plantation, ' ' 
brings  to  the  mind  the  days  of  long  ago? 


PERSONAGES   Of    THE    AFRO-AMERICAN    RACE.          605 

We  have  space  for  but  one  more  selection  from  this 
gifted  author  of  the  colored  race : 

MORTALITY. 

"Ashes  to  ashes!  dust  to  dust! 
What  of  his  loving?    What  of  his  lust? 
What  of  his  passion?    What  of  his  pain? 
What  of  his  poverty?    What  his  pride? 
Earth,  the  great  mother,  has  called  him  again  j 
Deeply  he  sleeps,  the  world's  verdict  defied. 
Shall  he  be  tried  again?    Shall  he  go  free? 
Who  shall-  the  court  convene?    Where  shall  it  be? 
No  answer  on  the  land,  none  from  the  seal 
Only  we  know  that  as  he  died,  we  must— 
You  with  your  theory,  you  with  your  trust- 
Ashes  to  ashes,  dust  to  dust!" 

A  London  correspondent  says:  "Paul  Dunbar,  the 
American  Negro  Poet,  has  captured  London.  He  has 
been  received  with  marked  attention  by  good  society, 
and  he  is  in  big  demand  in  the  most  fashionable  draw- 
ing-rooms. No  color  line  is  drawn  in  England,  and 
the  talented  American  is  much  sought  after.  He 
reads  his  verses  at  receptions,  garden  parties  and  other 
entertainments,  and  he  has  received  the  most  favora- 
ble criticisms  from  the  press.  Mr.  Dunbar  came  to 
London  well  recommended  by  W.  D.  Howells  and 
other  American  literary  lights  well  known  to  the 
British  public.  His  humble  origin  and  the  story  of 
his  self-culture,  struggles  and  final  triumph  have  won 
him  a  peculiar  regard  here,  where  the  Negro  slave  and 
the  prejudices  against  him  and  his  descendants  have 
never  existed.  Mr.  Dunbar  expects  to  spend  several 
months  in  London,  and  he  will  have  no  lack  of  occu- 
pation, judging  by  his  early  successes.  His  mission 
promises  to  be  all  that  he  hopes  it  to  be." 

Frances  E.  W.  Harper.— We  have  already  noticed 


G06  PROGRESS  OF   A   RACE. 

Mrs.  Harper  as  one  of  the  forerunners  of  liberty.  It 
is,  however,  due  Mrs.  Harper  that  we  also  mention 
her  as  an  author,  for,  since  the  emancipation  she  has 
written  a  number  of  works  besides  spending  much  of 
the  time  in  the  lecture  field.  Some  of  her  writings  are 
the  following :  '  *  Moses,  a  story  of  the  Nile ; "  * '  Sketches 
of  Southern  Life, ' '  in  which  she  portrays  the  life  of 
the  Negro;  "  Shalmanezer. "  Her  book  of  poems  con- 
tains some  excellent  and  practical  thoughts.  "The 
Dying  Bondman"  is  so  touching  that  we  reproduce  it 
here: 

THE  DYING  BONDMAN. 

Life  was  trembling,  faintly  trembling, 

On  the  bondman's  latest  breath, 
And  he  felt  the  chilling  pressure 

Of  the  cold,  hard  hand  of  Death. 

He  had  been  an  Afric  chieftain, 

Worn  his  manhood  as  a  crown ; 
But  upon  the  field  of  battle 

Had  been  fiercely  stricken  down. 

He  had  longed  to  gain  his  freedom, 
Waited,  watched  and  hoped  in  vain, 

Till  his  life  was  slowly  ebbing — 
Almost  broken  was  his  chain. 

By  his  bedside  stood  the  master, 

Gazing  on  the  dying  one, 
knowing  by  the  dull-grey  shadows 

That  life's  sands  were  almost  run. 

"Master,"  said  the  dying  bondman, 
"Home  and  friends  I  soon  shall  see; 

.But  before  I  reach  my  country, 
Master,  write  that  I  am  free. 

"For  the  spirits  of  my  fathers 
Would  shrink  back  from  me  in  pride, 

If  J  tcld  them  at  our  greeting 
V  a  slave  had  lived  and  died. 


PERSONAGES   OF   THE   AFRO- AMERICAN    RACE.         607 

"Give  to  me  the  precious  token, 

That  my  kindred  dead  may  see — 
Master!  write  it,  write  it  quickly! 

Master !, write  that  I  am  free!" 

At  his  earnest  plea  the  master 

Wrote  for  him  the  glad  release, 
O'er  his  wan  and  wasted  features 

Flitted  one  sweet  smile  of  peace. 

Eagerly  he  grasped  the  writing; 

"I  am  free  at  last!"  he  said. 
Backward  fell  upon  the  pillow, 

He  was  free  among  the  dead. 

Among  other  interesting  poems  are  found,  "Saving 
the  Boys;"  "Nothing and  Something;"  "My  Mother's 
Kiss;"  "Home,  Sweet  Home."  Probably  the  volume 
which  has  received  the  most  favorable  reception  is  her 
"lola  Leroy, "  presenting  a  vivid  view  of  scenes  at 
the  South  before,  during  and  after  the  war.  It  is 
written  in  a  vigorous  and  graphic  manner,  and  is  effec- 
tive in  appealing  to  the  finer  sensibilities  of  the  Amer- 
ican public  and,  at  the  same  time,  addresses  itself  to 
those  logical  sequences  of  mind  that  follow  out  of  that 
fundamental  principle  of  Christianity,  the  fatherhood 
of  God  and  the  brotherhood  of  man. 

Mrs.  Harper  introduces  into  her  work  many  thrilling 
war  scenes  and  succeeds  in  making  her  romance  one 
of  the  most  interesting.  It  pleads  the  cause  of  the 
race  whose  destinies  were  never  more  closely  involved 
with  those  of  the  nation  than  at  the  present  time. 
Mrs.  Harper  is  one  of  the  ablest  writers  among  the 
women  of  the  colored  race. 

Phillis  Wheatley.— This  girl  was  brought  on  a  slave 
ship  from  Africa  to  Boston  in  1761,  and  bought  by 
Mrs.  John  Wheatley,  an  intelligent  and  cultured  lady. 
When  bought  her  clothing  consisted  of  a  piece  of  dirty 


608  PROGRESS   OF    A    RACfc. 

carpet  around  her  loins.  Mrs.  Wheatley  was  impress- 
ed by  her  intelligent  countenance,  and  selected  her 
from  a  large  number  of  slaves.  Through  kind  treat- 
ment and  encouragement  she  learned  easily,  and  devel- 
oped a  talent  for  poetry.  She  wrote  a  book  of  poems 
of  about  forty  pieces,  and  the  literary  merit  of  these 
poems  disposed  some  to  question  their  origin.  At  one 
time  she  addressed  a  poem  to  George  Washington, 
and  received  a  kind  and  courteous  reply. 

Mrs.  Mary  R.  Phelps. — In  Union  county,  South  Car- 
olina, on  the  first  day  of  May,  1867,  was  born  to 
Adeline  and  Hilliard  Rice  the  subject  of  this  sketch. 
Many  names  of  the  rising  young  women  of  her  race 
have,  doubtless,  received  more  public  eulogy,  but  few 
names  deserve  a  more  worthy  mention  than  that  of 
Mrs.  Mary  R.  Phelps.  There  were  many  qualities 
noticeable  about  her  when  quite  young,  all  significant 
of  her  future  usefulness.  But  the  one  especially  inter- 
esting to  her  parents  and  friends  was  the  voluntary 
devotion  to  books  and  other  reading  matter.  Her 
perusing  picture  books,  papers,  etc.,  awakened  an 
interest  in  her  to  enquire  about  the  words  which  often 
accompanied  such  pictures.  In  this  way  she  learned 
to  read  simple  readings  by  the  time  she  was  four  years 
old.  At  the  age  of  five  years  she  entered  the  public 
schools  of  Union  county,  the  annual  terms  of  which 
were  of  but  two  or  three  months'  duration.  So  remark- 
able was  her  progress  as  a  student  and  scholar  under  ad- 
verse circumstances,  that  at  the  age  of  thirteen  she  ac- 
cepted, with  consent  of  her  parents,  the  charge  of  a  large 
school  in  a  rural  district  of  Spartanburg  county,  South 
Carolina,  was  examined,  received  a  certificate  of  qualifi- 
cation, and  taught  the  term  with  such  remarkable  credit 
as  to  win  the  approval  of  both  her  patrons  and  trustees. 


PERSONAGES    OF    THE    AFRO- AMERICAN    RACE.          609 

Her  parents,  being  thus  encouraged,  determined  with 
renewed  efforts  to  have  her  educated,  notwithstanding 
their  limited  advantages.  They  sent  her  to  Benedict 
Institute  (now  Benedict  College),  Columbia,  South 
Carolina,  and  afterward  to  Scotia  Seminary,  at  Con- 
cord, North  Carolina,  from  which  institution  she  grad- 
uated. Since  completing  her  course  in  school,  she  has 
contributed  to  various  journals,  etc.,  and  has  been 
offered  a  liberal  salary  for  her  services.  But,  in  con- 
sideration of  the  need  of  well-prepared  educators 
among  the  race,  that  it  may  become  what  it  can  be, 
she-  chose  to  use  her  talent  in  assisting  that  grand 
purpose.  Aside  from  her  accomplishment  in  the 
literary  line,  Mrs.  Phelps  has  acquired  a  practical 
knowledge  in  the  arts  of  music,  painting,  dressmaking, 
etc. ,  to  any  of  which  she  can  creditably  apply  herself. 
Her  career  as  a  teacher  has  been  one  of  usefulness  and 
success.  She  spent  each  vacation  of  her  school  life  in 
teaching,  which  experience  greatly  increased  her  devo- 
tion to  that  work.  Hence,  when  she  was  no  longer  a 
school  girl  she  entered  into  the  teachers'  field  as  a  pro- 
fession. She  was  principal  of  a  public  school  at  Glenn 
Springs,  South  Carolina,  for  three  years.  In  1890  she 
resigned  that  school  to  accept  a  position  in  the  graded 
school  at  Rome,  Georgia,  where  she  taught  for  some 
time.  She  then  taught  in  Milledgeville,  after  which  she 
was  married  to  Mr.  J.  L.  Phelps  in  1891.  The  demand 
for  well  trained  teachers  was  so  great  that  in  1893  she 
again  consented  to  act  as  assistant  principal  in  Cleve- 
land Academy,  Helena,  South  Carolina,  and  more 
recently  has  held  a  position  in  Haines  Institute, 
Augusta,  Georgia.  Mrs.  Phelps  is  an  earnest  Sabbath 
school  worker,  and  her  labors  for  God  and  the  church 
have  been  greatly  blessed. 

39  Progress. 


610  PROGRESS    OF    A    RACE. 

Mrs.  Fanny  Barrier  Williams  came  into  prominence 
during  the  World's  Columbian  Exposition.  Her  ad- 
dress at  the  Woman's  Congress  on  the  "Intellectual 
Progress  of  the  Colored  Woman"  created  a  profound 
impression.  Since  the  close  of  the  Exposition,  Mrs. 
Williams  has  received  invitations  from  all  parts  of  the 
country  to  deliver  addresses.  She  was  born  in  Brock- 
port,  New  York,  and  received  a  collegiate  education. 
Her  complexion  is  a  clear,  light  brown,  and  her  voice 
is  singularly  soft  and  sympathetic  in  tone.  She  is  a 
woman  of  more  than  usual  intelligence,  and  as  a  lecturer 
is  in  great  demand.  Her  most  popular  lectures  are : 
1 '  What  Will  You  Do  with  Our  Women ; "  "  Christianity 
and  the  American  Negro;"  "Prudence  Crandall,  or,  a 
Modern  Canterbury  Tale ; "  * '  Opportunities  of  Western 
Women;"  '"'The  Opportunities  and  Responsibilities  of 
American  Colored  Women. ' ' 

Mrs.  M.  A.  McCurdy  was  born  in  Carthage,  Indiana, 
in  1852.  She  acquired  the  rudiments  of  an  education 
in  the  mixed  schools  of  that  place,  but,  being  deprived 
of  attending  any  other  school  by  the  death  of  her 
father,  she  labored  diligently,  and  before  she  was  nine- 
teen years  of  age  had  prepared  herself  for  teaching, 
and  secured  a  school  near  her  home.  After  teaching 
for  some  time,  she  was  married  to  J.  A.  Mason,  and  for 
more  than  eight  years  filled  with  profit  and  precision 
the  worthy  position  of  wife  and  mother.  The  hand  of 
death  removed  from  her  four  precious  jewels  and  her 
husband,  leaving  her  alone  to  battle  life's  conflicts. 
She  then  entered  the  temperance  work,  and  became  a 
noted  worker  in  Richmond,  Indiana.  For  a  time  she 
edited  a  temperance  paper  in  that  city.  A  desire  to 
go  South  and  labor  among  her  people  seemed  to  im- 
press itself  more  and  more  upon  her  mind  until  1886, 


PERSONAGES    OF   THE   AFRO-AMERICAN    RACE.         6ll 

when  she  was  led  to  Atlanta,  where  sne  became  editor 
of  the  Southern  Recorder.  Here,  besides  her  work  in 
temperance  and  as  editor,  she  built  up  a  fine  mission 
during  her  four  years'  stay,  St.  James'  M.  E.  Church, 
of  that  city.  In  1890  she  was  married  to  Rev.  C. 
McCurdy,  of  Rome,  Georgia.  Her  labors  in  Rome 
since  that  time  have  been  varied  and  greatly  appre- 
ciated by  the  people.  She  is  engaged  in  industrial 
work  among  the  women  of  her  race ;  is  corresponding 
secretary  for  the  W.  C.  T.  U.  for  the  state  of  Georgia; 
president  of  the  missionary  work  in  the  Presbyterian 
Church,  and  editor  of  The  Woman's  World,  a  paper 
devoted  to  the  intellectual,  moral  and  spiritual  prog- 
ress of  the  people.  In  all  these  departments  of  work 
she  has  made  herself  known  and  felt  not  only  in  the 
city  of  Rome,  but  throughout  the  state.  Her  work 
will  outlive  empires  and  the  stars. 

Mrs.  Ida  B.  Wells  Barnett.— The  subject  of  this 
sketch  became  noted  for  her  crusades  against  the 
lynching  evil.  Shocked  by  the  awful  barbarity  of 
that  species  of  outlawry,  brought  home  to  her  by  the 
lynching  of  three  highly  respectable  colored  men  of 
Memphis,  because  of  a  neighborhood  quarrel,  Miss 
Wells  started  out  to  call  the  attention  of  the  American 
people  to  the  dangerous  growth  of  this  evil.  Denied  a 
hearing  in  America  she  went  to  England  and  there 
from  pulpit,  platform  and  in  the  public  press  her 
appeal  was  effectively  made.  In  1895  she  married 
Ferdinand  L.  Barnett,  Jr. ,  of  the  Chicago  bar. 

Edward  E.  Cooper. — Among  the  strange  happenings 
in  Washington  is  to  see  many  new  men,  unknown 
quantities  in  the  politics  and  history  of  our  people, 
pushing  themselves  to  the  front,  clamorously  calling 
upon  the  President  to  give  them  an  office  for  their 


012 


PROGRESS   OF    A    RACE. 


great  services  to  the  party  in  power.  On  the  other  hand, 
you  see  the  real  leaders,  men  of  thought  and  action, 
quietly  and  modestly  moving  on  in  the  even  tenor  of 
their  way,  working  out  their  own  destinies  and  the  des- 
tinies of  the  people,  asking  no  political  favors.  To  o'ne 
of  these  latter  men  we  wish  to  refer,  a  quiet,  modest, 
resolute  man,  who, by  his  indefatigable  will  and  tenacity 

of  purpose,  is  making  a 
name  which  will  be 
honored  when  many  of 
our  so-called  great  men 
will  be  forgotten,  E.  E. 
Cooper,  editor  and  man- 
ager of  the  Colored  Am- 
erican. Mr.  Cooper  was 
born  in  Tennessee  about 
thirty-five  years  ago. 
He  early  went  to  India- 
napolis, where  he  was 
educated.  After  gradu- 
ation he  entered  upon  his 
journalistic  career,  which 
has  been  a  unique  one. 
He  established  in  India- 
napolis the  first  colored 
illustrated  paper  pub- 
lished in  the  United  States,  The  Freeman,  a  new  order 
in  colored  journalism.  Everybody  knows  of  its  phe- 
nomenal success.  After  seeing  The  Freeman  estab- 
lished on  a  firm  financial  basis,  Mr.  Cooper  sold  his 
interest  and  turned  his  travels  toward  the  National 
Capitol,  where  he  founded  the  Colored  American,  a 
paper  which  has  lifted  colored  journalism  in  the  Capi- 
tol to  a  plane  it  never  reached  before.  Here  his  best 


E.   E.   COOPER, 

Editor  "  Colored  American," 
Washington,  D.  C. 


PERSONAGES   OF  THE  AFRO-AMERICAN   RACE.       613 

work  is  being  done;  bravely  does  he  champion  the 
Negro's  cause.  His  influence  is  widespread,  it  is 
national.  His  acquaintanceship  with  political  leaders 
has  given  him  an  influence  not  possessed  by  any  other 
young  man  of  his  race*.  His  success  with  the  American 
has  been  gratifying,  some  weeks  during  the  last  cam- 
paign it  having  reached  a  circulation  of  100,000 
copies. 

Henry  0.  Tanner. — Henry  O.  Tanner,  son  of  Bishop 
Benjamin  Tucker  Tanner,  of  the  African  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church,  was  born  and  reared  in  the  city  of 
Philadelphia,  As  a  boy  he  enjoyed  the  privileges  of 
the  .city  schools.  Early  in  life  the  natural  bent  of  his 
genius  began  to  manifest  itself.  Consequently,  he 
entered  the  Pennsylvania  Academy  of  Fine  Arts,  and 
became  a  pupil  of  Professor  Eakins.  Under  this 
efficient  and  faithful  instructor,  Mr.  Tanner  secured 
that  foundation  upon  which  he  has  since  so  magnifi- 
cently built. 

Like  many  others,  however,  Mr.  Tanner  has  had  to 
struggle  with  the  gaunt  wolf,  poverty.  Shortly  after 
leaving  the  academy  he,  among  other  ventures,  started 
a  photograph  gallery  in  Atlanta,  Georgia.  TKis  was 
not  a  success.  He  then  spent  a  year  at  Clark  Univer- 
sity, where  he  taught  freehand  drawing  and  gave 
instruction  in  painting  to  private  classes,  colored  and 
white,  at  the,  institution  and  in  the  city.  One  summer 
vacation  he  spent  at  Highlands,  North  Carolina,  a 
health  resort,  where  he  also  instructed  classes  of  white 
people,  some  of  them  Southern. 

For  a  long  time  it  was  the  topmost  desire  of  Mr. 
Tanner's  heart  to  go  to  Paris,  and  study  under  the 
great  masters  of  art  in  that  brilliant  metropolis.  It 
was  by  the  severest  economy,  together  with  assistance 


614  PROGRESS  OF   A   RACE. 

from  friends,  that  he  was  enabled  to  gratify  his  desire. 
Nor  was  he  altogether  relieved  from  embarrassment 
after  reaching  Paris,  for,  within  a  short  time  after  his 
arrival,  he  fell  sick,  and  lay  in  the  hospital  for  two 
months  with  typhoid  fever.  On  his  recovery  he  again 
resumed  with  a  hopeful  heart,  but  under  discouraging 
circumstances,  the  pursuit  of  his  studies.  For  two 
years  he  was  a  pupil  of  Benjamin  Constant.  "Becom- 
ing stranded  again,"  as  he  quaintly  states  it,  he  re  turn- 
ed to  America  for  about  eighteen  months.  Within 
this  time  he  sold  several  pictures.  Of  these  "The 
Banjo  Lesson,"  his  first  picture  exhibited  at  the  Salon, 
was  sold  to  Mr,  Robert  C,  Ogden,  a  tried  friend  and 
patron  of  Mr,  Tanner,  and  to  whom,  as  Mr,  Tanner 
acknowledges,  he  "is  much  indebted  for  whatever 
of  success  he  has  had, ' '  Another  picture,  entitled, 
" Thankful  Poor,"  he  sold  to  Mr.  John  T.  Morris. 
Here,  too,  it  may  be  said  that  at  the  Columbian  Expo- 
sition were  exhibited  one  hundred  pictures  from 
American  art  students,  at  home  and  abroad.  Of  this 
hundred  was  one  of  Mr.  Tanner's,  "The  First  Lesson 
on  the  Bagpipe,"  painted  from  a  scene  in  Brittany. 
At  the  close  of  the  exposition  a  committee  of  art  critics 
was  appointed  to  select  from  the  hundred  the  forty 
best,  and  catalogue  them,  inserting  cuts  of  each.  Mr. 
Tanner's  picture  was  one  of  the  forty.  This  picture 
was  afterwards  exhibited  at  the  "Cotton  States  and 
International  Exposition,"  Atlanta,  Georgia,  and  at- 
tracted the  attention  of  many. 

With  moneys  realized  from  his  sales  while  in  America 
he  returned  to  Paris  in  1894,  and  resumed  his  studies 
under  Jean  Paul  Laurens  and  Benjamin  Constant.  His 
first  picture  to  receive  any  official  recognition  was  the 
one  entitled.  "Daniel  in  the  Lion's  Pen" — -mention 


PERSONAGES   OF   THE   AFRO-AMERICAN   RACE         615 

honorable,  1896.  Then  came  the  picture  of  the  year, 
u Lazarus  Rising  from  the  Dead,"  which  received 
"  third  medal, "  and  was  purchased  by  the  French  gov- 
ernment. These,  now,  are  the  achievements  of  a 
young  man.  What  may  the  race  expect  of  him? 

But,  outside  his  art,  much  might  be  said  of  the  man. 
He  belongs  to  that  class  whom  to  know  is  to  admire 
and  to  love.  Genial,  simple  in  manner,  generous, 
with  an  intense  desire  to  serve  and  uplift  his  race,  he 
moves  among  his  fellows  with  the  appearance  of  a  man 
who  has  found  his  life-work  and  is  in  love  with  it.  To 
such  men  the  people  must  look  for  loftiest  inspiration 
and  safest  guidance- 
Mr,  Tanner  is  spending  his  summer  vacation  (1897) 
with  his  parents  at  Kansas  City,  Kansas.  He  likes 
Paris  because  of  the  companionship  of  artists,  and  he 
vrill  probably  spend  the  rest  of  his  life-time  there ;  still, 
he  glories  in  the  fact  that  he  is  an  American  citizen, 
and  he  will  retain  that  title  as  long  as  he  lives.  Dur- 
ing his  stay  at  home  he  has  been  painting  portraits  of 
his  parents.  When  he  returns  to  Paris  he  will  begin 
work  on  another  Biblical  painting,  "The  Annuncia- 
tion," which  he  hopes  will  surpass  his  "Raising  of 
Lazarus, ' '  which  made  him  famous  as  an  artist. 

Clark  Hampton. — Young  Clark  Hampton,  whose 
painting  of  "Napoleon  at  Waterloo"  is  receiving  such 
widespread  attention,  is  really  a  genius.  He  is  only 
eighteen  yeats  old,  and  the  sole  support  of  a  widowed 
mother.  In  his  modest  studio  is  to  be  found  a  charm- 
ing original  sketch,  "Waiting  in  the  Wildwood. "  The 
boy  is  ambitious,  and,  although  finding  it  difficult  to 
support  his  mother  and  to  continue  his  work,  he  is 
determined  to  press  forward.  "If  I  live,  the  race 
shall  yet  be  proud  of  me,"  says  this  youtt*. 


616  PROGRESS   OF    A    RACE 

Edmonia  Lewis  probably  surpasses  every  other  per- 
son of  her  race  as  a  sculptor.  She  is  of  lowly  birth, 
and  was  left  an  orphan  when  quite  young,  but  her 
determination  has  enabled  her  to  overcome  difficulties. 
When  visiting  Boston  the  first  time,  she  saw  a  statue 
of  Benjamin  Franklin.  She  was  so  touched  by  the 
sight  that  the  latent  talent  within  her  broke  forth  in, 
"I,  too,  can  make  a  stone  man!"  She  was  introduced 
by  William  Lloyd  Garrison  to  one  of  Boston's  famous 
sculptors,  and  as  she  triumphed  in  her  work  she  has 
won  a  position  as  an  artist  on  two  continents.  Some 
of  the  masterpieces  of  her  hands  are:  "Hagar  in  the 
Wilderness,"  *' Hiawatha's  Wooing,"  busts  of  Long- 
fellow, John  Brown  and  Wendell  Phillips,  Her  studio 
in  Rome  has  become  an  object  of  interest  to  travelers 
from  all  countries, 

MISCELLANEOUS, 

We  have  mentioned  in  these  pages  a  number  of  col- 
ored men  representing  the  different  classes.  There 
are  many  others  as  able  as  these  who  may  imagine  that 
we  have  neglected  to  mention  them.  This  is  not  a 
biography,  but  our  object  in  mentioning  a  number  of 
these  different  classes  is  to  show  the  .progress  made 
since  freedom.  Many  colored  women  might  be  named. 
It  should  be  remembered  that  they  have  had  fewer 
privileges  of  education  before  the  war  and  since  than 
the  men  of  their  race,  yet  there  are  a  number  of  them, 
who  have  shown  themselves  capable  and  useful".  ..  : 

Hon.  H.  0.  Smith,  who  has  represented  one  of  the 
districts  of  Ohio  in  the  legislature  for  a  number  of 
years,  and  is  editor  and  proprietor  of  the  Cleveland 
Gazette,  is  one  of  the  young  men  of  whom  the  race  may 
feel  proud.  It  is  but  fitting  to  say  that  his  election,  to 
the  Ohio  legislature  in  1893  has  rmde  hirn  even  more 


PERSONAGES   OF  THE  AFRO-AMERICAN  RACE.       617 

popular  than  before  among  the  people.  He  has  made 
a  record  that  has  amply  vindicated  the  choice  and 
judgment  of  his  constituents. 

John  Mitchell,  Jr.,  who  was  born  of  slave  parents, 
has  for  a  number  of  years  been  editor  of  the  Richmond 
Planet,  a  weekly  paper. 

Amanda  Smith,  born  in  slavery,  has,  through  pov- 
erty and  adversity,  pushed  her  way  upward  until  she 
is  one  of  the  most  spiritual  and  eloquent  exhorters  and 
lecturers  of  her  race  in  the  world.  She  is  a  member 
of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  and  has  traveled 
extensively  in  America,  Europe  and  Africa.  She  has 
written  her  biography,  which  has  a  wide  sale.  She  is 
now  engaged  in  raising  funds  for  a  home  for  colored 
orphan  children  in  Chicago.  Her  visits  to  the  churches 
throughout  the  North  and  West  are  an  inspiration  and 
a  blessing,  and  she  has  succeeded  in  a  remarkable 
manner  in  the  work  for  which  she  has  so  long  been 
laboring. 

Mrs.  Charlotte  Fortune  Grimke  is  a  native  of  Penn- 
sylvania. She  was  educated  in  Massachusetts,  and 
proved  to  be  a  student  of  more  than  ordinary  ability 
and  application.  Mrs.  Grimke  has  been  a  contributor 
to  the  columns  of  the  Atlantic  Monthly  and  other  repre- 
sentative magazines  of  the  East. 

Rev.  W.  A.  Lewis,  of  West  Tennessee,  was  com1 
pelled  to  work  at  home  by  his  stepfather,  who  though.! 
it  a  crime  for  a  stepson  to  attend  school.  He  worked 
hard  on  the  farm  in  the  day,  and  walked  a-  mile  at 
night  to  take  lessons"  of  a  white  lady,  paying  a  dollar  a 
month  for  instruction.  He  picked  berries  and  sold 
melons  at  odd  times  to  pay  his  tuition.  Such  qualities 
might  worthily  be  emulated  today. 

John  William  McKinney  is  a  successful  lawyer  in 


618 


PROGRESS   OF  A   RACE. 


Sherman,  Texas.  He  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1891, 
and  was  elected  delegate  from  the  state  at  large  by  the 
Union  Republican  convention  in  1892.  In  1894  he 
was  nominated  by  the  Republicans  for  Congress. 

Richard  T.  Greener,  one  of  the  most  cultured  Afro- 
Americans,  was  for  many  years  dean  of  the  law  depart- 
ment  of  Howard  University. 


REV.   CYRUS    MYERS. 

Rev.  Cyrus  Myers,  of  Simpson  county,  Mississippi, 
who  has  become  prominent  in  his  efforts  to  have  Con- 
gress pass  a  bill  pensioning  ex-slaves,  is  a  remarkable 
Negro  of  the  old  slave  class.  Rev.  Myers  brought 
with  him  over  6,000  signatures  of  Mississippi  ex-slaves. 
He  is  seventy-nine  years  old,  and  was  a  slave  forty- 
seven  years.  He  is  black,  tall,  eloquent  and  full  of 
reminiscences.  He  was  a  novelty  at  Washington  in 
that  he  is  not  an  office-seeker,  but  is  working  for  his 
race. 

Charles  L.  Remoud  was  the  first  Negro  to  take  the 


PERSONAGES   OF  THE  AFRO-AMERICAN   RACE.       619 

platform  as  a  regular  lecturer  in  the  anti-slavery  cause, 
and  was  the  ablest  representative  that  the  race  had 
till  the  appearance  of  Frederick  Douglass  irr  1842. 

W.  E.  King  is  one  of  the  rising  young  men  of  Dallas, 
Texas.  Improving  the  opportunities  given  him  in  his 
youth,  he  has  succeeded  in  making  himself  useful.  He 
is  at  present  editor  of  the  Weekly  Express,  and  is  yield- 
ing an  influence  for  true  worth  and  progress  with  his 
race.  Among  the  young  men  of  the  state  who  are 
devoting  their  lives  to  the  welfare  of  the  race  Mr. 
King  stands  prominent. 

B,  K.  Bruce.  On  the  23d  day  of  May,  1881,  Presi- 
dent Garfield  appointed  ex-Senator  B.  K.  Bruce,  of 
Mississippi,  Registrar  of  the  United  States  Treasury.. 
This  was  the  first  colored  man  whose  signature  made 
money  of  worthless  paper, 

Professor  M,  A.  Hopkins,  of  Franklintown,  North 
Carolina,  a  colored  teacher  of  marked  ability,  was  ap- 
pointed by  President  Cleveland,  first  term,  as  Minister 
to  Liberia. 

Miss  L.  Vina  Givens,  of  Dallas,  Texas,  has,  by  her 
natural  ability,  become  prominent  in  the  musical 
world  of  Texas.  Through  adverse  circumstances  she 
has  risen,  and  is  today  one  of  the  sweetest  singers  of 
Dallas. 

COLORED  AUTHORS  AND  NAMES  OF  PUBLICATIONS. 

Albert,  A.  E.  P.,  D.  D.—  The  Negro  Evangelist. 

Plantation  Melodies. 

Universal  Reign  of  Jesus. 
Alexander,  William  T.  — History  of  the  Colored  Race 

in  America. 
Alexander,  Rev.  W.  G. — Living  Words. 

The  Negro  in  Commerce  and  Finance. 

The  Efficient  Sunday  School. 


620  PROGRESS    OF   A    RACE. 

Anderson,  Rev.  J.  Harvey — Directory  of  the  A.  M.  E 

Zion  Church. 
Arnett,  Bishop. — Negro  Literature. 

The  Centennial  Budget. 
Bannecker,  Benjamin. — Science. 
Bates,  R.  C. — Architecture  and  Building. 
Benjamin,  R.  C.  O.,  D.  D.— Africa,  the  Hope  of  the 
Negro. 

Future  of  the  American  Negro. 

History  of  the  British  West  Indies. 

Life  of  Toussiant  L'Ouverture. 

Origin  of  the  Negro  Race. 

The  Southland, 

The  Boy  Doctor, 

Don't 

Black  well,  G.  L.—The  Model  Homestead. 
Blyden,   E.   W.,  LL.D.— Christianity,    Islam  and  the 
Negro  Race. 

From  West  Africa  to  Palestine. 

Liberia's  Offering. 

Booth,  Rev.  C.  O.~ Plain  Theology  for  Plain  People 
Bowen,  J.  W.  E.,  D.  D.— Plain  Talks. 

Africa  and  the  American  Negro. 
Brawley,  Rev.  E.  M.— The  Negro  Baptist  Pulpit. 
Brown,    Rev.    R.    T. — Doctrines    of    Christ. and  th< 
Church. 

Pastor's  Annual  and  Financial  Report. 
Brown,  William  Wells.— The  Black  Man. 

The  Negro  in  the  Rebellion.  " 

The  Rising  Sun. 
Carter,  Rev.  E.  R.— Our  Pulpit  Illustrated.  ' 

The  Black  Side. 

The  Holy  Land. 
Clark,  P.  H.— -  Black  Brigade. 


OF  THE   AFRO-AMERICAN   fcACE.        621 

Coleman,  Mrs.  L.  N.  C.— Poor  Ben. 
Cooper,  Mrs.  A.  J. — A  Voice  from  the  South. 
Crogman,  W.H.,  A.  M.— Talks  for  the  Times. 
Crummell,  Rev.  Alex.,  D.  D. — Africa  and  America. 

The  Future  of  Africa. 
Davis,  D.  W.— Poems. 

Douglass,   Frederick. — Life  and  Times  of  Frederick 
Douglass. 

My  Bondage  and  My  Freedom. 

Narrative  of  My  Experience  in  Slavery. 
DuBois,  W.  E.  Burghardt,  Ph.  D.— The  Suppression  of 
the  African  Slave  Trade  to  the  United  States  of 
America,  1838-1870. 
Dunbar,  Paul  L. — Oak  and  Ivy. 

Poems. 

Negro  Love  Song. 
Dyson,  J.  F.,  B.  D. — Are  We  Africans  or  Americans? 

Origin  of  Color. 

Political  X  Roads— Which  Way? 

Richard  Allen's  Place  in  History. 
Earl,  Victoria. — Aunt  Linda. 

Early,  Sarah. — Life  and  Labors  of  Rev.  J.  W.  Early. 
Embry,  J.  C.,  D.  D.— Digest  of  Christian  Theology. 

Our  Father's  House. 
Fortune,  T.  T.— Black  and  White. 
Gordon,  J.  E. —Political  Works. 
Gregory,  J.  M. — Hon.  Frederick  Douglass. 
Green,  Dr.  A.  R. — History  of  Independent  Method- 
ism. 
Hagood,  Rev.  L.  M.,  M.  D.-— The  Colored  Man  in  the 

M.  E.  Church. 

Harper,   Mrs.   F.    E.   W. — lola  Leroy;    or,    Shadows 
Uplifted. 

Forest  Leaves. 


622  PROGRESS    OF    A    RACE. 

Sketches  of  Southern  Life. 

Moses :  A  Story  of  the  Nile. 

Miscellaneous  Poems. 

Shalmanezer. 
Hood,  Bishop  J.  W.,  D.  D.— Book  of  Sermons. 

History  of  the  A.  M.  E.  Z.  Church. 
Johnson,  Mrs.  A.  E. — Clarence  and  Corinne. 

The  Hazely  Family. 
Johnson,  E.  A. — School  History  of  the  Negro  Race  in 

America. 

Jones,  S.  T.,  D.  D.— Book  of  Sermons. 
Langston,  Hon.  John  M. — Freedom  and  Citizenship. 

From    the   Virginia  Plantation   to   the   National 
Capitol. 

Lectures  and  Addresses. 
Majors,  M.  A. — Noted  Negro  Women. 
Matthews,  Mrs  W.  E.— Aunt  Linda. 
Moore,  Bishop  J.  J. — History  of  the  A.  M.  E.  Church 
Mossell,    Mrs.   N.   F.— The   Work   of  Afro- American 

Women. 
Payne,  Bishop  Daniel. — Domestic  Education. 

History  of  the  A.  M.  E.  Church. 

Recollections  of  Seventy  Years. 

Official  Sermons  of  the  A.  M.  E.  Church. 

The  Semi-Centenary  of  the  A.  M.  E.  Church. 
Pegues,  Rev.  A.  W.,  Ph.  D.— Our  Baptist  Ministers 

and  Schools. 

Pendleton,  Lewis. — The  Sons  of  Ham. 
Penn,  I.  Garland. — The  Afro- American  Press  and  Its 

Editors. 

Ransom,  R.  C. — School  Days  at  Wilberforce. 
Rowe,  Rev.  George  C. — Patriotic  Poems. 

The  Aim  of  Life. 

Thoughts  in  Verse. 


PERSONAGES   OF  THE    AFRO-AMERICAN   RACE.       623 

Rush,  Bishop. — Rise  and  Progress  of  Zion  Church. 
Scarborough,  W.  S..  A.  M.,  Ph.  D.,   LL.   D.— First 
Lessons  in  Greek. 

Latin  Moods  and  Tenses. 

Questions  on  Latin  Grammar. 

Scruggs,   L.  A. — Afro- American  Women  of  Distinc- 
tion. 

Grammar  Land. 

Simmons,  William,  D.  D. — Men  of  Mark. 
Smith,  Rev.  C.  S. — Glimpses  of  Africa. 
Smith,  Rev.  S.  E.— Anti-Separate  Coach  History  of 

Kentucky. 

Smith,  W.  H.— Earnest  Pleas. 
Smith,  Amanda. — A  Story  of  My  Life. 
Stevenson,  Rev.  J.  W.,  M.  D. — Church  Financiering. 
Stewart,  T.  McCants.— Liberia, 
Still,  William.— The  Underground  Railroad. 

The  Kidnapped  and  Ransomed. 
Straker,  D.  A. —The  New  South  Investigated. 
Tanner,   Benjamin  Tucker. — Apology  for  American 
Methodism. 

Is  the  Negro  Cursed? 

Outline  of  History. 

The  Negro's  Origin. 

The  Negro  (African  and  American). 

Theological  Lectures. 
Taylor,  M.  W.— Plantation  Melodies, 
Trotter,   J.    M. — Music   and    Some    Highly    Musical 

People. 

Troy,  Rev.  William. — Hairbreadth  Escapes  from  Slav- 
ery to  Freedom. 
Turner,  Bishop — African  Letters, 

Methodist  Polity. 

Negro  In  All  Ages, 


6~4  PROGRESS   OF    A    KACiL 

Wayman,  Bishop  A.  W. — Cyclopedia  of  the  A.  M.  E. 

Church. 

Wheatley,  Phillis. — Memoirs  of  Poems. 
Wheeler,  B.  F.,  A.  M.— Sacred  Heart. 
Whitman,  A.  A. — Not  a  Man,  and  Yet  a  Man. 
The  Rape  of  Florida. 
Poems. 

Wells,  Ida  B.— A  Red  Record. 
Williams,  Prof.  D.  B. — Science  and  Art  of  Elocution. 

Freedom  and  Progress. 
Williams,  George  W.,  LL.  D. — A  History  of  the  Negro 

Troops  in  the  Rebellion. 
History  of  the  Negro  Race  in  America. 
Wilson,    J.    T.— Black    Phalanx    (History    of    Negro 

Soldiers). 
Emancipation. 

Twenty-two  Years  of  Freedom. 
Voice  of  a  New  Race. 

Wright,   Prof.   R.   R.--A  Brief   Historical  Sketch  of 
Negro  Education  in  Georgia. 

Rev.  Charles  T.  Walker,  D.  D.,  pastor  of  the 
Mount  Olivet  Baptist  church,  New  York  City,  was 
born  a  slave  in  Richmond  county,  Georgia,  January 
n,  1859.  He  was  the  youngest  of  eleven  children, 
His  father  was  buried  the  day  before  his  son's  birth. 

When  about  eight  years  old  his  mother  also  passed 
away,  leaving  him  to  battle  for  himself. 

In  1873,  while  working  in  a  cotton  field,  he  sud- 
denly decided  to  be  at  peace  with  God.  He  went  into 
the  woods  where  for  three  days  he  wrestled,  without 
food  or  drink,  when  the  struggle  ended  and  he  was 
happily  converted. 

After  spending  several  years  in  public  school,  he  felt 


JPERSOKAGES   OF    THE    AFRO-AMERiCAN    RACE.        625 

that  he  was  called  to  the  ministry.  Accordingly  he 
entered  the  Theological  Institute,  at  Augusta,  Georgia. 
For  five  years  he  studied,  showing  much  energy  and 

ability. 


REV.  CHARLES   T.  WALKER,   D.   D. 

Pastor  Mount  Olivet  Baptist  Church,  New  York  City. 

He  was  licensed  to  preach  in  1876,  and  ordained  to 
the  ministry  when  but  eighteen  years  old.  He  was 
immediately  elected  pastor  of  his  mother-church,  which 
had  been  organized  in  1848.  The  house  had  been 
built  by  slaves  after  they  had  worked  all  day  for  their 
masters. 

40  Progress. 


626  PROGRESS    OF    A    RACE. 

After  successful  pastorates  at  Waynesboro,  La 
Grange,  and  Augusta,  Georgia,  his  friends  at  Augusta 
sent  him  to  Europe  and  the  Holy  Land.  On  his  re- 
turn he  wrote  a  book  on  "A  Colored  Man  Abroad." 

He  has  given  much  time  to  evangelistic  work,  and 
counts  10,000  conversions  under  his  preaching.  He 
has  been  called  the  "Black  Spurgeon,"  and  is  some- 
times known  as  the  "Ccrlored  John  the  Baptist." 

In  addition  to  his  pastoral  and  evangelistic  work,  he 
has  done  much  to  encourage  education  among  his 
own  people.  He  was  one  of  the  founders  of  the 
Walker  Baptist  Institute  at  Augusta,  Georgia.  He  is 
still  its  financial  secretary. 

He  is  trustee  of  the  Atlanta  Baptist  College,  vice- 
president  of  the  National  Baptist  Convention  of  the 
United  States,  and  one  of  the  vice-presidents  of  the 
International  and  Interdenominational  Sunday  School 
Convention  of  America  and  Canada. 

While  doing  heavy  pastoral  work  in  New  York,  he 
was  instrumental  in  organizing  a  colored  Y.  M.  C.  A. 
of  500  members.  They  are  now  engaged  in  raising 
money  for  permanent  quarters  of  their  own. 

Doctor  Walker  is  still  a  student,  and  is  at  present 
engaged  in  the  study  of  the  Hebrew  and  the  Spanish 
languages. 

As  a  speaker  he  is  eloquent  and  convincing.  His 
"Appeal  to  Caesar,"  in  which  he  replies  to  Rev.  Henry 
Frank  upon  his  criticism  of  the  negro  race,  and  his 
review  of  the  Montgomery  conference,  are  perhaps  his 
most  noted  efforts. 

During  the  Spanish-American  war,  Dr.  Walker  was 
chaplain  of  the  gth  Immune  regiment,  and  served  in 
Santiago  and  San  Luis,  Cuba. 


PERSONAGES    OF    THE    AFRO-AMERICAN    RACE.          627 

Henry  Plummer  Cheatham. — The  most  successful 
Negro  in  American  politics,  with  the  probable  excep- 
tion of  the  lamented  B.  K.  Bruce,  and  the  youngest  of 
all  the  colored  statesmen  who  have  gained  a  national 
reputation,  is  the  present  Recorder  of  Deeds  for  the 
District  of  Columbia,  Henry  Plummer  Cheatham. 

Mr.  Cheatham 's  rise  in  public  life  has  been  some- 
what phenomenal. 

Party  confidences  were  thrust  upon  him  at  twenty- 
five.  At  the  age  of  forty,  he  enjoys  political  honors 
that  would  afford  a  man  of  sixty  much  satisfaction. 

Tact  and  honesty  of  purpose,  the  true  basis  for  per- 
manent success  and  distinction,  have  marked  Mr. 
Cheatham 's  public  career.  He  was  born  in  Henderson, 
North  Carolina,  about  forty  years  ago,  and  was  edu- 
cated in  the  public  schools  of  his  county  and  at  Shaw 
University  in  Raleigh. 

After  graduating  from  the  latter  institution,  Mr. 
Cheatham  returned  to  his  native  county  with  the 
intention  of  dedicating  his  life  to  the  interests  of  his 
struggling  people.  Because  of  his  fitness  and  integ- 
rity, Providence  decreed  that  these  same  people  should 
honor  him.  Shortly  after  his  graduation,  he  was 
taken  from  the  principalship  of  one  of  the  state  nor- 
mal schools  and  elected  Register  of  Deeds  of  his 
county.  He  was  elected  to  the  same  position  a  second 
time.  Among  those  who  supported  him  for  this  office 
and  stood  his  security  was  the  most  aristocratic  family 
in  the  state,  whose  name  Mr.  Cheatham  bears.  After 
two  years  of  official  service  in  his  own  county,  he  was 
elected  to  the  fifty-first  Congress,  and  in  1889,  when 
Mr.  Harrison  took  his  seat  as  President,  Mr.  Cheatham 
was  sworn  in  as  member  of  Congress. 

Though   the    youngest    member   of    the   body,    he 


628  PROGRESS    OF    A    RACE. 

wielded  large  influence  and  showed  marked  legislative 
and  executive  ability.  He  was  returned  to  the  fifty- 
second  Congress,  where  he  gained  a  national  reputa- 
tion. Mr.  Cheatham  was  again  elected  to  the  fifty- 
third  Congress,  but  on  a  contest  was  counted  out. 

Though  a  private  citizen  his  individuality  stood  out. 
In  a  quiet,  unassuming  way,  he  was  an  influential 
member  of  the  Republican  party;  he  was  a  constant 
defender  of  his  race,  and  at  all  times  counseled  peace 
and  conservatism. 

In  1897,  President  McKinley  appointed  him  Re- 
corder of  Deeds  for  the  District  of  Columbia,  a  posi- 
tion of  honor  and  trust.  So  satisfactory  was  his 
administration  that  the  business  men  of  Washington 
were  unanimous  in  requesting  that  he  be  reappointed. 

Mr.  Cheatham  is  a  scholar,  and  holds  the  degrees  of 
A.  M.  and  LL.  D.  His  legal  career  would  doubt- 
less have  been  brilliant,  had  he  not  been  called  into 
public  service  so  early  in  life. 

David  Augustus  Straker.— The  subject  of  this 
sketch  was  at  one  time  professor  of  common  law, 
and  dean  of  the  law  department  of  Allen  University, 
at  Columbia,  South  Carolina,  and  later  Circuit  Court 
Commissioner  for  Wayne  county,  Michigan.  At  this 
writing  he  is  editor  and  manager  of  the  Detroit 
Advocate, 

He  was  born  in  1842  on  the  island  of  Barbados,  one 
of  the  West  Indies.  As  Britain's  flag  floats  over  no 
slave,  he,  of  course,  was  born  a  free  man. 

After  receiving  a  thorough  education  in  the  public 
schools  of  the  island,  he  was,  at  the  age  of  seventeen, 
appointed  teacher  in  St.  Mary's  school  in  Bridgetown, 
the  chief  city  of  the  island.  While  engaged  in  his 
line  of  work  as  teacher,  he  continued  his  studies  in 


DAVID   AUGUSTUS   STRAKER. 


REV.    LEIGH    B.    MAXWELL. 


Rev.  Leigh  B.  Maxwell  was  born  in  Darien,  Georgia, 
in  1861,  and  died  in  Los  Angeles,  California,  where  he 
had  gone  for  his  health,  in  1902,  leaving  a  wife  and 
four  children.  He  was  graduated  from  Atlanta  Uni- 
versity in  1885,  and  later  from  Hartford  Theological 
Seminary. 

For  ten  years  he  was  pastor  of  the  Congregational 
Church  in  Savannah,  Georgia,  and  during  the  rest  of 
his  life  was  a  secretary  of  the  International  Sunday 
School  Convention. 

In  these  positions  he  was  eminently  successful,  and 
through  his  public  addresses  at  large  gatherings  in 
both  the  North  and  South  and  in  England  he  became 
known  and  honored  as  one  of  the  leading  and  most 
influential  men  of  his  race. 


PERSONAGES    OF    THE    AFRO-AMERICAN    RAGE.          629 

the  higher  branches  of  learning,  such  as  the  French, 
Latin,  and  Greek  languages,  and  science  and  phi- 
losophy. 

In  1867  Prof.  Straker,  with  two  others,  was  per- 
suaded through  the  appeals  of  Bishop  S.  S.  Smith  of 
the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  of  the  diocese  of 
Kentucky,  to  come  to  the  United  States  to  assist  in  the 
education  and  elevation  of  the  newly  emancipated  race. 

His  first  work  in  his  new  field  of  labor  was  teaching 
a  school  in  Louisville,  Kentucky,  under  the  auspices 
of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  and  the  Freed- 
man's  Bureau. 

In  the  meantime,  while  teaching,  he  made  due  prep- 
*  aration  for  entering  the  ministry  of  the  Protestant 
Episcopal  Church,  but  finding  the  prejudice  against 
the  Negro  so  strong,  even  in  the  church,  he  decided 
not  to  receive  orders  offered  him  by  his  Bishop. 
Having  been  free-born  in  a  country  where  prejudice 
against  color  is  but  slightly  felt,  the  feeling  against 
the  Negro  in  the  United  States  was  extremely  offen- 
sive to  Mr.  Straker,  as  it  naturally  would  be  to  any 
intelligent,  refined,  sensitive  colored  man. 

Under  these  conditions  he  decided  to  return  to  his 
first-love,  the  profession  of  the  law.  While  yet  in  his 
home  on  the  island  of  Barbados,  he  had  commenced 
the  study  of  law.  Fortunately  at  this  time  he  learned 
through  Hon.  James  M.  Langston,  then  of  Oberlin, 
Ohio,  about  the  opening  of  the  Howard  University  in 
Washington,  D.  C.,  in  which  a  law  school  had  been 
organized,  which  was  open  to  all  citizens  without 
regard  to  color,  race,  or  previous  condition  of  serv- 
itude. 

In  1869  Mr.  Straker  entered  the  Howard  law  school 
and  graduated  with  honor  two  years  later. 


PROGRESS    OF    A    RACE. 

During  the  year  of  his  graduation,  he  married  Miss 
Annie  M.  Gary,  of  Detroit,  Michigan. 

Soon  after  these  events,  he  was  appointed  clerk 
in  the  Treasury  department  at  Washington,  D.  C.  In 
1875  he  was  appointed  by  Secretary  Bristow  inspector 
of  customs  at  the  port  of  Charleston,  South  Carolina. 
But  the  profession  of  the  law  still  beckoned  him  on- 
ward. Resigning  his  office  as  inspector  of  customs, 
he  commenced  the  practice  of  law  at  Orangeburg, 
South  Carolina.  In  1876  he  was  elected  to  the  legisla- 
ture of  South  Carolina.  But  this  being  the  era  of  Ku 
Klux  Klans,  Rifle  Clubs,  and  Red  Shirt  organizations, 
Mr.  Straker,  with  other  colored  men  and  Republicans, 
was  ejected  from  office.  ^  Though  elected -to  the  state 
legislature  in  1878  and  again  in  1880,  he  was  not  per- 
mitted to  take  his  seat. 

In  1882  he  was  called  to  the  chair  of  professor  of 
common  law  in  the  department  of  law,  and  dean  of 
the  law  department  in  Allen  University,  Columbia, 
South  Carolina.  But  on  the  decline  of  the  univer- 
sity Mr.  Straker  again  returned  to  the  practice  of  the 
law.  His  clientage  being  confined  to  his  own  race, 
whose  poverty  did  not  enable  one  of  their  own  number 
to  earn  a  competent  living  by  .their  support,  he 
returned  to  Detroit,  Michigan. 

His  law  practice  in  Detroit  was  eminently  successful. 
Here,  by  reason  of  a  similarity  of  his  accent  to  an 
Irishman,  he  is  called  the  "black  Irish  lawyer." 

In  1892  Mr.  Straker  was  elected  to  the  office  of 
Circuit  Court  Commissioner  of  Wayne  county, 
Michigan.  Again  in  1891  he  was  elected  to  the  same 
office. 

Mr.  Straker  is  also  a  writer  of  merit.  During  the 
last  twenty  years  he  has  written  for  well-nigh  all  of 


PERSONAGES   OF    THE    AFRO-AMERICAN    RACE. 


631 


our  most  prominent  colored  journals,  as  well  as  for 
many  of  our  journals  controlled  by  whites. 

He  has  also  written  and  published  "The  New  South 
Investigated,"  and  "Reflections on  the  Life  and  Times 
of  Toussaint  L'Ouverture;"  also  a  pamphlet  on  ''Lar- 
ceny of  Dogs."  On  the  subject  of  law,  he  has  writ- 
ten and  compiled  a  "Circuit  Court  Commissioners' 
Guide  to  Law  and  Practice,"  and  a  digest  of  the  law 
of  evidence  known  as  "Straker's  Compendium  of 
Evidence."  These  works  are  highly  commended  by 
those  who  are  competent  to  judge  in  such  matters. 

At  this  writing  Mr.  Straker  is  editor  and  manager 
of  the  Detroit  Advocate,  a  weekly  journal  published  by 
some  of  the  colored  people  of  Detroit,  Michigan. 

Hon.  Judson  W.  Lyons,  at  the  time  of  this  writing, 
is  the  Register  of  the 
Treasury  of  the 
United  States.  He  is 
now  about  forty 
years  of  age,  and  a 
native  of  Georgia. 

Following  his  com- 
mon school  educa- 
tion, he  attended  the 
Augusta  Institute, 
now  the  Baptist  Col- 
lege of  Atlanta, 
Georgia.  He  re- 
mained at  the  insti- 
tute for  about  eight 
years,  or  until  1879. 


HON.    JUDSON  W.    LYONS. 


While  attending  this  school,  he  taught  in  the  public 
schools  of  Georgia  and  South  Carolina  during  his  sum- 
ine.r  vacations. 


632  PROGRESS    OF    A    RACE. 

He  was  a  delegate  from  Georgia  to  the  National 
Republican  convention  of  1880,  held  at  Chicago, 
Illinois.  This  was  the  historic  convention  that  nomi- 
nated J.  A.  Garfield  for  President.  He  was  also  a 
delegate  to  the  National  Republican  conventions  of 
1892,  1896,  and  1900.  At  the  St.  Louis  convention 
of  1896,  he  was  appointed  a  member  of  the  National 
committee  for  Georgia  and  also  in  1900.  He  was  the 
only  colored  man  on  this  committee. 

Soon  after  leaving  the  school  he  was  appointed 
deputy  in  the  internal  revenue  department  of  the 
general  government,  but  after  a  few  months'  service 
he  resigned  in  order  to  take  up  the  study  of  law  in 
the  Howard  University  at  Washington,  D.  C.  He  grad- 
uated in  1884,  and  was  admitted  to  the  Augusta  bar  in 
November  of  the  same  year.  He  practiced  law  in 
Augusta  for  about  fourteen  years,  or  until  his  appoint- 
ment as  Register  of  the  Treasury  of  the  United  States. 

He  has  been  highly  honored  by  different  educa- 
tional institutions;  one  conferred  upon  him  the  honor- 
ary degree  of  A.  M.,  another  of  LL.D.,  and  still 
another  of  Ph.  D. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

PLANTATION  MELODIES. 

INCIDENTS,   EXPERIENCES  AND  PLEASANTRIES. 

Hampton  and  Its  Students.— For  many  years  the 
Hampton  school  has  been  making  an  effort  to  preserve 
and  collect  the  spiritual  songs  of  the  Negroes  in  Amer- 
ica, and  to  give  to  its  students  so  great  a  love  for  these 
beautiful  utterances  of  the  emotions  of  an  enslaved  and 
deeply  religious  race  that  they  would  strive  as  they 
went  out  to  gather  up  and  preserve  a  form  of  emotional 
expression  only  too  likely  to  pass  away  in  the  transition 
period  through  which  the  colored  people  are  now  pass- 
ing. So  impossible  is  it  to  reproduce  this  music  under 
changed  conditions  that  there  is  danger  lest  even  where 
both  words  and  music  are  preserved,  the  spirit  which 
gives  it  its  peculiar  charm  may  be  lost  forever.  The 
educated  Negro  cannot  sing  the  old  songs  as  his  father 
sang  them.  He  may  yet  evolve  a  higher  and  nobler 
music  of  his  own,  but  the  old  spirituals,  squeezed  as 
it  were  out  of  the  human  heart  by  the  pressure  of  slav- 
ery, are  a  part  of  his  history  that  he  cannot  afford  to 
lose — a  breaking  forth  from  bondage  of  that  thing  which 
could  never  be  enslaved,  the  genius  of  a  race. 

Hampton  and  its  students  have  done  more  to  pre- 
serve Negro  melodies  than  any  other  agency. 

The  following  are  a  few  of  the  many  songs  that  might 
be  given.  Most  of  them  are  taken  from  the  Hampton 
collection. 


634  PROGRESS   OF    A    RACE. 

THE  ANGELS  DONE  CHANGED  MY  NAME. 
"  I  went  to  the  hillside,  I  went  to  pray; 

I  know  the  angels  done  changed  my  name- 
Done  changed  my  name  for  the  coming  day ; 

I  knew  the  angels  done  changed  my  name. 

"  I  looked  at  my  hands,  my  hands  was  new, 

I  knew  the-angels  done  changed  my  name ; 
I  looked  at  my  feet,  and  my  feet  was,  too—- 
Thank God  the  angels  done  changed  my  name." 

While  the  Negro  brought  out  from  bondage  no  liter- 
ature and  no  theology,  yet  he  did  bring  with  him  the 
plantation  songs  which  show  in  Christian  song  that 
the  doctrines  of  Christianity  were  held  by  these  people 
in  the  days  of  slavery.  We  cannot  expect  to  find  the 
same  modes  of  expression  now  that  prevailed  among 
them  while  in  slavery,  but  that  they  held  to  the  funda- 
mental truths  of  religion  must  be  recognized  by  all  who 
study  these  songs.  That  they  believed  in  Christ  as  a 
Savior  from  sin  and  in  the  Atonement  is  beautifully 
illustrated  in  the  refrain — 

"I've  been  redeemed!    I've  been  redeemed! 
Been  washed  in  de  blood  ob  de  lamb." 

The  Divinity  of  Christ  is  shown  in — 

"Jus'  stan'  right  still  and  steady  yo'self : 
.  .     ,  ,     I  know  that  my  Redeemer  lives. 

Oh,  jus'  let  me  tell  yo'  about  God  hisself : 
I  know  that  my  Redeemer  lives." 

At  Tougaloo,  Mississippi,  they  sing  a  hymn  which 
especially  emphasizes  the  personality  of  Satan,  which, 
it  seems,  they  never  doubted — 

"  Ole  Satan  he  wears  de  hypocrite  shoe; 
If  yo'  don'  min'  he  slip  it  on  yo'." 

Frederick  Douglass  says  that— 
"  Run  to  Jesus,  shun  the  danger, 
J  don't  expect  to  stay  much  longer  here," 


PLANTATION   MELODIES,   ETC.  635 

sung  on  the  plantation  where  he  was  a  slave,  first  sug- 
gested to  him  the  thought  of  escaping  from  slavery,  or, 
as  he  put  it,  "  Praying  with  his  feet." 

While  their  lives  were  full  of  misery  on  account  of 
the  oppressions  of  their  masters,  their  songs  do  not 
show  anywhere  a  revengeful  spirit.  They  looked  for- 
ward with  confidence,  expecting  to  be  relieved  in  the 
land  of  the  redeemed. 

"  Shine,  shine,  I'll  meet  you  in  that  morning. 
Oh,  my  soul's  goin'  to  shine,  to  shine: 
I'm  goin'  to  sit  down  to  a  welcome  table- 
Stone,  shine,  my  soul's  goin'  to  shine." 

SWING  LOW,  SWEET  CHARIOT. 

Oh,  de  good  ole  chariot  swing  so  low, 
Good  ole  chariot  swing  so  low, 
Oh,  de  good  ole  chariot  swing  so  low, 
I  don't  want  to  leave  me  behind. 
Chorus. — Oh,  swing  low,  sweet  chariot. 

Swing  low,  sweet  chariot, 

Swing  low,  sweet  chariot, 

I  don't  want  to  leave  me  behind. 

Oh,  de  good  ole  chariot  will  take  us  all  home, 
I  don't  want  to  leave  me  behind. 
Cho. — Oh,  swing  low,  sweet,  etc. 

THE  DANVILLE  CHARIOT. 

Chorus. — Oh,  swing  low,  sweet  chariot; 
Pray  let  me  enter  in, 
I  don't  want  to  stay  here  no  longer. 

I  done  been  to  heaven,  an'  I  done  been  tired, 
I  been  to  the  water,  an'  I  been  baptized — 

I  don't  want  to  stay  no  longer. 
O,  down  to  the  water  I  was  led, 
My  soul  got  fed  with  heav'nly  bread— 

I  don't  want  to  stay  here  no  longer. 
Cho. — Oh?  swing  low,  sweet  chariot,  etc, 


PLANTATION  MELODIES,  ETC.          637 

I  had  a  little  book,  an'  I  read  it  through, 
I  got  my  Jesus  as  well  as  you; 

Oh,  I  got  a  mother  in  the  promised  land. 
I  hope  my  mother  will  feed  dem  lambs — 

I  don't  want  to  stay  here  no  longer. 
Cho. — Oh,  swing  low,  sweet  chariot,  etc. 

Oh,  some  go  to  church  for  to  holler  an'  shout. 
Before  six  months  they're  all  turned  out— 

I  don't  want  to  stay  here  no  longer. 
Oh,  some  go  to  church  for  to  laugh  an'  talk, 
But  dey  knows  nothin'  'bout  dat  Christian  walk— 

I  don't  want  to  stay  here  no  longer. 
Cho. — Oh,  swing  low,  sweet  chariot,  etc. 

Oh,  shout,  shout,  de  deb'l  is  about; 
Oh,  shut  your  do'  an'  keep  him  out— 

I  don't  want  to  stay  here  no  longer. 
For  he  is  so  much-a  like-a  snaky  in  de  grass, 
Ef  you  don'  mind  he  will  get  you  at  las' — 

I  don't  want  to  stay  here  no  longer 
Cho. — Oh,  swing  low,  sweet  chariot,  etc 

VIEW  DE  LAND. 

I'm  born  of  God,  I  know  I  am — View  de  land,  view  de  land! 
And  you  deny  it  if  you  can — Go  view  de  heav'nly  land. 
I  want  to  go  to  heaven  when  I  die — View  de  land,  view  de  land  I 
To  shout  salvation  as  I  fly — Go  view  de  heav'nly  land. 

Chorus. — 

Oh,  'way  over  Jordan — View  de  land,  view  de  land! 
'Way  over  Jordan — Go  view  de  heavenly  land. 

What  kind  of  shoes  is  dem-a  you  wear?    View  de  land,  etc. 
Dat  you  can  walk  upon  the  air?    Go  view,  etc. 
Dem  shoes  I  wear  are  de  Gospel  shoes — View  the  land,  etc. 
An'  you  can  wear  dem  ef-a  you  choose — Go  view,  etc. — Cho. 

Der'  is  a  tree  in  paradise — View  the  land,  etc. 

De  Christian  he  call  it  de  tree  ob  life — Go  view,  etc. 

I  spects  to  eat  de  fruit  right  off  o'  dat  tree — View  de  land,  etc. 

Ef  busy  old  Satan  will  let-a  me  be — Go  view,  etc. — Cho. 

You  say  yer  Jesus  set-a  you  free — View  de  land,  etc, 
Why  don't  you  let-a  your  neighbor  be?    Go  view,  etc. 


638  PROGRESS   OF    A    RACE. 

You  say  you're  aiming  for  de  skies — View  de  land,  etc. 
Why  don't  you  stop-a  your  telling  lies?    Go  view,  etc. — Cho. 

OH,   YES. 

Ef  eber  I  land  on  de  oder  sho' — Oh,  yes ! 
I'll  neber  come  here  for  to  sing  no  more — Oh,  yea! 
A  golden  band  all  round  my  waist, 
An'  de  palms  of  victory  in  my  hand, 
An'  de  golden  slippers  on  to  my  feet — 
Gwine  to  walk  up  an'  down  o'  dem  golden  street 

Chorus. — Oh,  wait  till  I  put  on  my  robe — 

Wait  till  I  put  on  my  robe.     Oh,  yes!    Oh,  yes". 

An',  my  lobely  bretherin,  dat  ain't  all — Oh,  yes 

I'm  not  done  a-talkin'  about  my  Lord. 

An'  a  golden  crown  a-placed  on-a  my  head, 

An'  my  long  white  robe  a-come  a-dazzlin'  down ; 

Now  wait  till  I  get  on  my  Gospel  shoes, 

Gwine  to  walk  about  de  heaven  an'  a-carry  de  news. — Cho. 

I'm  anchored  in  Christ,  Christ  anchored  in  me — Oh,  yes! 

All  de  debils  in  hell  can't  a-pluck  me  out ; 

An'  I  wonder  what  Satan's  grumbling  about. 

He's  bound  into  hell,  an'  he  can't  git  out, 

But  he  shall  be  loose  and  hab  his  sway — 

Yea,  at  de  great  resurrection  day. — Cho. 

I  went  down  de  hillside  to  make  a-one  prayer — Oh,  yes ! 

An'  when  I  got  dere  Ole  Satan  was  dere — Oh,  yes  t 

An'  what  do  you  t'ink  he  said  to  me?    Oh,  yes! 

Said,  "Off  from  here  you'd  better  be. "     Oh,  yes ! 

And  what  for  to  do  I  did  not  know — Oh,  yes ! 

But  I  fell  on  my  knees  and  I  cried  'Oh,  Lord!' — Oh,  yes! 

Now,  my  Jesus  bein'  so  good  an'  kind, 

Yea,  to  the  with-er-ed,  halt,  and  blind — 

My  Jesus  lowered  His  mercy  down, 

An'  snatch-a  me  from  a-dem  doors  ob  hell. 

He  a-snatch-a  me  from  dem  doors  ob  hell. 

An'  took-a  me  in  a-wid  htm  to  dwell. — Cho. 

I  was  in  de  church  an'  prayin'  loud, 
An'  on  my  knees  to  Jesus  bowed; 
Ole  Satan  tole  me  to  my  face     ; 


PLANTATION   MELODIES,    ETC.  639 

"  I'll  git  you  when-a  you  leave  dis  place." 

Oh,  brother,  dat  scare  me  to  my  heart, 

I  was  'fraid  to  walk-a  when  it  was  dark. — Cho. 

I  started  home,  but  I  did  pray, 

An'  I  met  ole  Satan  on  de  way; 

Ole  Satan  made  a-one  grab  at  me, 

But  he  missed  my  soul  an'  I  went  free. 

My  sins  went  a-lumberin'  down  to  hell, 

An'  my  soul  went  a-leaping~up  Zion's  hill. 

I  tell  ye  what,  bretherin,  you'd  better  not  laugh, 

Ole  Satan'll  run  you  down  his  path ; 

If  he  runs  you  as  he  run  me 

You'll  be  glad  to  fall  upon  your  knee. 

Chorus. — Oh,  wait  till  I  put  on  my  robe. 

Wait  till  I  put  on  my  robe — Oh,  yes!    Oh,  yes! 

MY  LORD   DELIVERED   DANIEL. 
I  met  a  pilgrim  on  de  way, 
An'  I  ask  him  whar  he's  a  gwine. 
I'm  bound  for  Canaan's  happy  land, 
An'  dis  is  de  shouting  band.     Go  on ! 
Chorus. — My  Lord  delibered  Daniel, 
My  Lord  delibered  Daniel, 
My  Lord  delibered  Daniel — 
Why  can't  he  deliber  me? 
Some  say  dat  John  de  Baptist 
Was  nothing  but  a  Jew ; 
But  de  Bible  doth  inform  us 
Dat  he  was  a  preacher,  too. — Yes,  he  was! 
Chorus. — My  Lord  delibered  Daniel,  etc. 
Oh,  Daniel  cast  in  the  lions'  den, 
He  pray  both  night  and  day ; 
De  angel  came  from  Galilee, 
And  lock  de  lions'  jaw.     Dat's  so. 
Chorus. — My  Lord  delibered  Daniel,  etc. 
He  delibered  Daniel  from  de  lions'  den, 
Jonah  from  de  belly  ob  de  whale, 
An'  de  Hebrew  children  from  de  fiery  furnace— 
An'  why  not  ebery  man?    Oh,  yes! 
Chorus. — My  Lord  delibered  Daniel,  etc. 


640  PROGRESS   OF    A    RACE. 

De  richest  man  dat  eber  I  saw 
Was  de  one  dat  beg  de  most ; 
His  soul  was  filled  wid  Jesus, 
An'  wid  de  Holy  Ghost.     Yes,  it  was. 
Chorus. — My  Lord  delibered  Daniel,  etc. 

NOBODY  KNOWS. THE  TROUBLE  I'VE  SEEN. 
Sometimes  I'm  up,  sometimes  I'm  down — Oh,  yes,  Lord. 
Sometimes  I'm  almost  to  de  groun' — Oh,  yes,  Lord. 
Although  you  see  me  goin'  long  so — Oh,  yes,  Lord. 
I  have  my  trials  here  below. — Oh,  yes,  Lord. 
Chorus. — Oh,  nobody  knows  de  trouble  I've  seen, 

Nobody  knows  but  Jesus ; 

Nobody  knows  de  trouble  I've  seen — 

Glory  Hallelujah ! 

One  day  when  I  was  walkin'  along — Oh,  yes,  Lord. 
De  element  opened,  an'  de  love  came  down — Oh,  yes,  Lord. 
I  never  shall  forget  dat  day — Oh,  yes,  Lord. 
When  Jesus  washed  my  sins  away. — Oh,  yes,  Lord. 
Chorus. — Oh,  nobody  knows  the  trouble,  etc. 

HAIL  !     HAIL  !     HAIL  ! 
Oh,  look  up  yander,  what  I  see — 

I'm  on  my  journey  home; 
Bright  angels  comin'  arter  me— 

I'm  on  my  journey  home. 
Chorus.— Children,  hail!  hail!  hail! 

I'm  gwine  jine  saints  above; 

Hail!  hail!  hail! 

I'm  on  my  journey  home. 

If  you  git  dere  before  I  do — 

I'm  on  my  journey  home; 
Look  out  for  me,  I'm  comin*  too— 

I'm  on  my  journey  home. 
Chorus.— Children,  hail  1  etc. 

Oh,  hallelujah  to  de  Lamb ! 

I'm  on  my  journey  home; 
King  Jesus  died  for  ebery  man— 

I'm  on  my  journey  home.    ' 
Chorus. — Children,  hail!  etc. 


PLANTATlOiN     MELODIES,    ETC. 


SCRIPTURAL   REMINISCENCES. 

Aunt  Patty:  "Bress  me,  Uncle  Abum,  ef  yer  doesn't  call  to 
mind  Baalam  gwine  down  ter  J'rusalem." 

Uncle  Abram  (with  a  weakness  for  Aunt  Patty):  "Yaas,  and 
does  yer  'member  dar  stood  an  angel  in  de  way?  " 

WISE  SAYINGS— "  MULTUM  IN  PARVO." 
'  Long  ha'r  don't  hide  de  brand  on  de  horse." 
"  Muddy  roads  call  de  mile-post  a  liar." 
"  'Tis  hard  to  make  clo'es  fit  a  miserbul  man." 
"  De  stopper  gits  de  longes'  res'  in  de  empty  jug." 
"  De  church  bells  sometimes  do  better  wuk  dan  de  sermon." 
"  Some  o'  de  wus  lookin'  animals  at  de  county  fa'r  got  to  pay 

to  get  in." 

"  De  price  ob  your  hat  ain't  de  medjer  ob  your  brain." 
"  Ef  your  coat-tail  cotch  a-fire,  don't  wait  till  you  kin  see  de 

blaze  'fo'  you  put  it  out." 

"  De  graveyard  is  de  cheapes*  boardin' -house." 
"  Dar's  a  fam'ly  coolness  'twix'  de  mule  an'  de  single-tree." 
41  It  pesters  a  man  dreadful  when  he  git  mad  an'  don'  know 

who  to  cuss." 

"  Buyin*  on  credit  is  robbin'  next  'ear's  crop." 
"  Chris'mas  without  holiday  it  lik«  a  candle  without  a  wick." 
11  Progress. 


642  PROGRESS  OF  A  RACE. 

"  De  crawfish  in  a  hurry  look  like  he  tryin'  to  git  dar  yistiddy/ 

"  Lean  houn'  lead  de  pack  when  de  rabbit  in  sight." 

"  Little  flakes  make  de  deepes'  snow." 

"  Knot  in  de  plank  will  show  froo  de  whitewash." 

"  A  short  yardstick  is  a  po'  thing  to  fight  de  debbul  wid." 

"  Dirt  show  de  quickes'  on  de  cleanes'  cotton." 

"  De  candy -pullin'  kin  call  louder  dan  de  log-rollin'." 

"  De  bes'  apple  float  on  de  top  o'  de  peck  medjer." 

"  De  right  sort  o'  'ligion  heaps  de  half-bushel." 

"  De  steel  hoe  dat  laughs  at  de  iron  one  is  like  de  man  dat  is 

'shamed  o'  his  grand-daddy." 
"  A  mule  kin  tote  so  much  goodness  in  his  face  dat  he  don't 

nab  none  lef  for  his  hind  legs." 

"  Some  grabble  walks  may  lead  to  de  jail." 

"  De  cow-bell  can't  keep  a  secret." 

"  Ripe  apples  make  de  tree  look  taller." 

"  De  red  rose  don't  brag  in  de  dark." 

"  Blind  horse  knows  when  de  trough  empty." 

"  De  no4se  of  de  wheels  don't  medjer  de  load  in  de  wagon. 

"  Las'  'ear's  hot  spell  cools  off  mighty  fast." 

"  Little  hole  in  your  pocket  is  wusser'n  a  big  one  at  de  knee." 

"  Appetite  don't  reggerlate  de  time  o'  day." 

"  De  quagmire  don't  hang  out  no  sign." 

"  One  pusson  kin  th'ead  a  needle  better  than  two." 

"  De  pint  o'  de  pin  is  de  easiest  en'  to  find." 

"  De  green  top  don't  medjer  de  price  o'  de  turnup." 

"  Muzzle  on  de  yard  dog  unlocks  de  smokehouse."      • 

11  'Tis  hard  for  de  bes'  an'  smartes'  folks  in  de  wul'  to  git  'long 

widout  a  little  tech  o'  good  luck." 

"  De  billy-goat  gits  in  his  hardes'  licks  when  he  looks  like  he 

gwine  to  back  out  o'  de  fight." 

Miss  Anita  Hemming,  tall,  brunette,  and  graceful, 
was  one  of  the  graduates  at  Vassar  in  189 7, and, although 
the  world  did  not  know  it.  there  was  then  enacted  a 
great  scene,  showing  the  advance  of  woman  into  the 
iife-giving  but  long-forgotten  precept  that  all  men  are 
born  free  and  equal.  This  young  woman,  who  stood 
side  by  side  with  her  classmates,  keeping  pace  with 
them  in  studies  and  accomplishments,  for  four  years 


644  PROGRESS   OF    A    RACE. 

kept  the  secret  of  her  birth  from  her  associates — the 
secret  that  blood  that  marks  a  race  of  slaves  flowed 
through  her  veins.  It  was  just  before  examination 
when  the  faculty,  to  their  utter  astonishment,  learned 
that  into  that  stately  and  exclusive  institution  an  alien 
race  had  gained  admission.  To  this  school  for  young 
ladies  of  the  highest  circle  of  society  this  modest, 
studious,  refined  young  lady  had  gained  admission 
without  making  known  the  secret  of  her  birth.  The 
question  for  the  faculty  to  decide  was  a  hard  one.  The 
girl,  in  deportment,  scholarship,  and  in  every  way, 
was  worthy,  but  yet  would  the  public  receive  the  inno- 
vation. After  due  consideration  the  young  woman, 
whose  only  fault  lay  in  the  accident  of  her  birth,  was 
informed  that  she  would  be  allowed  to  graduate  with 
her  class. 

Then  the  girls  of  the  finishing  class  heard  the  story. 
Some  of  them  were  from  the  proudest  old  families  of 
the  South,  but  they  took  her  hands  with  right  good 
comradeship,  and  the  real  ordeal  for  her  had  passed. 

Miss  Hemming  stood  among  her  associates  at  com- 
mencement in  her  simple  white  gown,  a  mark  for 
many  eyes.  Her  dark  hair,  with  its  burnished  waves, 
was  brushed  back  from  her  low,  broad  brow ;  a  deep 
flush  burned  in  her  cheeks,  and  she  was  fairer  than 
many  of  the  blue-blooded  girls  around  her.  Then 
she  went  out  into  the  world.  But  the  attitude  taken 
by  Vassar's  august  faculty  could  not  be  ignored,  and 
the  young  alumnus  of  1897  gained  the  position  of 
assistant  in  the  Boston  public  library. 

Fred  Douglass. — In  the  course  of  an  address  made 
to  a  colored  school  in  Talbot  county,  Maryland,  where 
he  was  born  a  slaTe,  Frederick  Douglass  said:  "I  once 
knew  a  little  colored  boy,  whose  father  and  mother 


PLANTATION    MELODIES,    ETC.  045 

died  when  he  was  six  years  old.  He  was  a  slave,  and 
had  no  one  to  care  for  him.  He  slept  on  a  dirt  floor 
in  a  hovel,  and  in  cold  weather  would  crawl  into  a 
meal  bag,  headforemost,  and  leave  his  feet  in  the 
ashes  to  keep  them  warm.  Often  he  would  roast  an 
ear  of  corn  and  eat  it  to  satisfy  his  hunger,  and  many 
times  has  he  crawled  under  the  barn  or  stable  and 
secured  eggs,  which  he  would  roast  in  the  fire  and  eat. 

This  boy  did  not  wear  pants,  like  you  do,  but  a 
tow  linen  shirt.  Schools  were  unknown  to  him,  and 
he  learned  to  spell  from  an  old  Webster's  spelling 
book,  and  to  read  and  write  from  posters  on  cellars 
and  barn  doors,  while  boys  and  men  would  help  him. 
He  would  then  preach  and  speak,  and  soon  became 
well  known.  He  became  presidential  elector,  United 
states  marshal,  United  States  recorder,  United  States 
diplomat,  and  accumulated  some  wealth.  He  wore 
broadcloth,  and  didn't  have  to  divide  crumbs  with  the 
dogs  under  the  table.  That  boy.  was  Frederick 
Douglass. 

What  was  possible  for  me  is  possible  for  you. 
Don't  think  because  you  are  colored  you  can't  accom- 
plish anything.  Strive  earnestly  to  add  to  your 
knowledge.  So  long  as  you  remain  in  ignorance,  so 
long  will  you  fail  to  command  the  respect  of  your  fel- 
low men. ' ' 

Pred  Douglass. — Fred  Douglass  has  said  that  Presi- 
dent Lincoln  was  the  only  white  man  with  whom  he 
ever  associated  in  this  country  who  did  not  make  him 
feel  that  he  was  colored  and  a  supposed  inferior,  and 
that  only  in  England  and  on  the  continent  among  the 
Caucasians  had  he  been  permitted  to  realize  that  he 
was  a  man  and  an  equal. 

Everything  Must  Go,— In  a  lecture  by  Rev.  William 


646  PROGRESS   OF  A   RACE. 

Johnson,  illustrating  the  law  that  " everything  must 
go,"  he  gives  the  following:  "A  minister  told  me  that 
he  fell  in  love  with  his  wife  at  first  sight,  and  married 
after  six  months'  acquaintance.  'But,'  said  he,  'dur- 
ing that  whole  time  I  went  to  see  her  every  day.  At 
four  o'clock  I  was  always  there. '  Some  young  men 
do  not  choose  that  delightful  hour  to  visit,  but  go 
later.  One  young  man  lingered  at  the  gate  after  a 
long  visit,  and  the  girl  began  to  cry.  He  said,  'Dear, 
don't  cry;  I  will  come  to  see  you  again.'  But  she 
cried  on.  'O,  darling,  don't  cry  so;  I  will  be  sure  to 
come  again. '  Still  she  cried.  At  last  he  said :  '  Love, 
did  I  not  tell  you  that  I  would  soon  come  again  to  see 
you?'  And  through  her  tears  she  replied:  'Yes,  but  I 
am  afraid  you  never  will  go ;  that  is  what  is  the  mat- 
ter with  me. '  We  must  all  go. ' ' 

In  the  same  lecture  on  the  subject  of  practical  phil- 
osophy, he  gives  the  following: 

"Uncle  Jim  was  once  asked  a  great  question.  It 
was:  'If  you  had  to  be  blown  up  which  would  you 
choose,  to  be  blown  up  on  the  railroad  or  the  steam- 
boat?' 'Well,'  said  Uncle  Jim,  'I  don't*  want  to  be 
blowed  up  no  way ;  but  if  I  had  to  be  blowed  up  I 
would  rather  be  blowed  up  on  de  railroad,  because, 
you  see,  if  you  is  blowed  up  on  de  railroad,  dar  you 
is,  but  if  you  is  blowed  up  on  de  steamboat,  whar  is 
you?'  He  was  practical  in  his  philosophy. " 

Faithful  Service  Rewarded. — On  July  10,  1897, 
Alexander  B.  Williamson,  colored,  of  Memphis,  Ten- 
nessee, didn't  have  a  cent  that  he  could  call  his  own. 
July  ii  he  went  to  the  probate  judge,  J.  S.  Galloway, 
and  qualified  to  take  possession  of  a  fortune  valued  at 
$45,000,  that  had  been  left  him  under  the  will  of  the 
late  Mrs.  Clara  Mariani.  This  is  the  reward  the  Negro 


PLANTATION   MELODIES,   ETC.  647 

gets  for  a  lifetime  of  devotion  to  duty  in  the  service 
of  the  family  of  the  woman  who  has  just  died.  He  has 
for  years  been  in  charge  of  the  affairs  of  Mrs.  Mariani, 
and  has  always  been  found  honest,  diligent  and  pecul- 
iarly trustworthy.  She  gave  him  credit  for  having 
done  much  to  make  the  fortune  she  left  behind,  and 
as  she  had  no  relatives  living  to  whom  she  could  leave 
her  property,  she  thought  it  was  only  just  that  it 
should  go  to  this  faithful  servant. 

Mr.  Moody. — When  Mr.  Moody  was  preaching  in 
Washington,  he  asserted  that  if  Jesus  Christ  should 
return  to  this  world  in  person  and  appear  in  that  city 
the  people  would  not  consent  to  be  governed  by  him. 
He  asked  the  audience  if  they  would  receive  him,  and 
to  emphasize  the  assertion,  he  appealed  to  an  aged 
Negro  man  sitting  near  the  pulpit.  "Would  you  vote 
for  him?"  The  reply  came  promptly,  "It  would  do 
no  good;  they  wouldn't  count  my  vote." 

A  Negro  Huckster  was  driving  his  wagon  through 
the  streets  of  Richmond,  yelling  at  the  top  of  his 
voice,  "  'Tatoes,  'tatoes!"  A  black  woman  standing 
at  a  gate  said  to  him:  "Hush  yo'  mouf,  nigger,  an' 
stop  makin'  such  a  fuss!"  "Yo'  he'rd  me  then?"  he 
said.  ' '  He'rd  yo' !  I  could  hear  yo'  a  mile ! "  "  That 
is  why  I  am  yelling,"  said  he.  'Tatoes!  'tatoes!" 

THE  FUNERAL. 

I  was  walking  in  Savannah,  past  a  church  decayed  and  dim, 
When  there  slowly  through  the  window  came  a  plaintive  funeral 

hymn; 

And  a  sympathy  awakened  and  a  wonder  quickly  grew 
Till  I  found  myself  environed  in  a  little  Negro  pew. 

Out  in  front  a  colored  couple  sat  in  sorrow,  nearly  wild, 

On  the  altar  was  a  coffin,  in  the  coffin  was  a  child. 

I  could  picture  him  when  living— curly  hair,  protruding  lip— 

And  had  seen  perhaps  a  thousand  in  my  hurried  Southern  trip. 


648  PROGRESS   OF    A    RACE. 

But  no  baby  ever  rested  in  the  soothing  arms  of  death 
That  had  fanned  more  flames  of  sorrow  with  his  fluttering  breath ; 
And  no  funeral  ever  glistened  with  more  sympathy  profound 
Than  was  in  the  chain  of  tear  drops  that  enclasped  those  mourn- 
ers round. 

Rose  a  sad  old  colored  preacher  at  the  little  wooden  desk, 
With  a  manner  grandly  awkward,  with  a  countenance  grotesque ; 
With  simplicity  and  shrewdness  on  his  Ethiopian  face, 
With  the  ignorance  and  wisdom  of  a  crushed,  undying  race. 

And  he  said,  "  Now  don'  be  weepin'  for  dis  pretty  bit  o'  clay — 
For  de  little  boy  who  lived  there  he  done  gone  an'  run  away ! 
He  was  doin'  very  finely,  an'  he  'predate  your  love, 
But  his  sure  'nuff  Father  want  him  in  de  large  house  up  above. 

"  Now  He  didn't  give  you  dat  baby,  by  a  hundred  thousand  mile! 
He  just  think  you  need  some  sunshine,  an'  He  lend  it  for  a  while ! 
An'  He  let  you  keep  'an'  love  him  till  your  heart  was  bigger 

grown ; 
An'  dese  silver  tears  you're  sheddin's  just  de  interest  on  de  loan. 

"  Here  yer  oder  pretty  chillun! — Don't  be  makin'  it  appear 
Dat  your  love  got  sort  o'  'nopolized  by  this  little  fellow  here. 
Don't  pile  up  too  much  sorrows  on  deir  little  mental  shelves, 
So's  to  kind  o1  set  'em  wonderin'  if  dey're  no  account  demselves! 

"Just  you  think,  you  poor  deah  mounahs,  creepin'  'long  o'er 

sorrow's  way, 

What  a  blessed  little  picnic  dis  yere  baby's  got  to-day ! 
Your  good  faders  and  good  moders  crowd  de  little  fellow  round 
In  de  angel-tended  garden  in  de  Big  Plantation  Ground ! 

"  An'  dey  ask  him,  '  Was  your  feet  sore?'  an'  take  off  his  little 

shoes. 
An'  dey  wash  him,  an*  dey  kiss  him,  an*  dey  say,  '  Now,  what's 

de  news? ' 

An  de  Lord  done  cut  his  tongue  loose,  den  de  little  fellow  say, 
'  All  our  folks  down  in  de  valley  tries  to  keep  de  hebbenly  way.  * 

"  An'  his  eyes  dey  brightly  sparkle  at  de  pretty  tings  he  view; 
Den  a  tear  come,  an'  he  whisper,  '  But  I  want  my  parents,  too !  * 
But  de  angel  Chief  Musician  teach  dat  boy  a  little  song-- 
Says, '  If  only  dey  be  faithful,  dey  will  soon  be  comiii'  'long,' 


PLANTATION   MELODIES,   ETC.  649 

"  An'  he'll  get  an  education  dat  will  probably  be  worth 
Seberal  times  as  much  as  any  you  cotud  buy  for  him  on  earth; 
He'll  be  in  de  Lawd's  big  schoolhouse,  widout  no  contempt  or  fear, 
While  dere's  no  end  to  de  bad  things  might  have  happened  to 
him  here. 

"  So,  my  poor,  dejected,  mounahs,  let  your  hearts  wid  Jesus  rest, 
An'  don't  go  to  criticism'  dat  ar  One  wot  knows  de  best! 
But  have  sent  us  many  comforts  He  have  right  to  take  away — 
To  de  Lawd  be  praise  an*  glory,  now  an'  ever!    Let  us  pray." 

—Will  M.  CarletoiL 

A  LULLABY. 
Bedtime's  come  fu'  little  boys, 

Po'  little  lamb. 
Too  tiahed  out  to  make  a  noise, 

Po'  little  lamb. 

You  gwine  t'  have  to-mprrer  sho'? 
Yes,  you  tole  me  dat  befo', 
Don't  you  fool  me,  chile,  no  mo', 

Po'  little  lamb. 

You  been  bad  de  livelong  day, 

Po'  little  lamb. 
Th'owin'  stones  an'  runnin*  'way, 

Po  little  lamb. 

My,  but  you's  a-runnin'  wild! 
Look  jes'  lak  some  po'  folks'  chile ; 
Mam  gwine  whup  you  atter  while, 

Po'  little  lamb. 

Come  hyeah !  you  mos'  tiahed  to  def , 

Po'  little  lamb. 
Played  yo'sel'  clean  out  of  bref, 

Po  little  lamb. 

See  dem  han's  now — sich  a  sight! 
Would  you  evah  b'lieve  dey's  white? 
Stan'  still  'twell  I  wash  dem  right, 

Po'  little  lamb. 

Jes'  cain't  hoi'  yo'  haid  up  straight, 

Po'  little  lamb. 
Hadn't  oughter  played  so  late 

'Po'  little  lamb. 


PLANTATION   MELODIES,   ETC.  651 

Mammy  do'  know  whut  she'd  do, 
Ef  de  chillun's  all  lak  you ; 
YOU'S  a  caution  now,  fu*  true, 
Po'  little  lamb. 

Lay  yo'  haid  down  in  my  lap, 

Po'  little  lamb. 
Y' ought  to  have  a  right  good  slap, 

Po'  little  lamb. 

You  been  runnin'  roun'  a  heap. 
Shet  dem  eyes  an'  don't  you  peep— 
Dah  now,  dah  now,  go  to  sleep — 

Po'  little  lamb. 

— Paul  Lawrence  Dunbar. 

WHEN  THE  WARM  DAYS  COME. 

When  the  warm  days  come,  an'  the  green  is  all  around, 
An'  the  bushes  are  noddin'  to  their  shadders  on  the  ground ; 
When  the  meader  lark  is  singin'  'round  its  nest  hid  in  the  grass, 
An'  the  brown  thrush  is  a-swingin'  'mongst  the  thorn  an'  sassa- 
fras. 

When  the  Juneberry's  in  blossom,  tho'  the  oak  tree  still  is  bare ; 
When  the  blows  are  all  a-fallin'  from  the •' cherry  an'  the  pear; 
When  the  orchard  is  in  blossom,  an'  the  roads i  are  gittin'  dry 
An'  the  lilacs  are  a-flirtm"-  with  tfie'-lazy  butterfly. 

When  the  world  is  full  of  sunshine,  an*  wprkin'  seems  a  sm, 
An'  you  don't  want  to:<io  flothm*  tiutjest'sit'aii'jBoak  it  in; 
When  the  very  fields  look  sleepy  rrcto  the  wild:  bee's  drowsy  hum, 
An'  the  birds  all  go  to  matin',  when  the  warm- days  come. 

THANKSGIVING  IN  DIXIE. 

Now  de  fros'  am  in  de  meader, 
An*  we's  habin'  chilly  weader, 

An'  de  owel  air  a  hootin*  ter  de  moon, 

An  'de  cotton  'pears  to  thickin,      ;      •  ••\--\.\*    A 
.  ,7     _,  Atte,r  ebery  curful  pickin', , ,  .  v  ..     *':M" 

An'  de  bossman  call  de  niggers  good  an'  soon- 
Fur  de  lighted  knot  air  burnin'. 
An*  de  cider  mill  air  turnin',  ; 

An'  de  taters  air  all  ready  futter  roas*. 


052  PROGRESS    OF    A    RACE. 

An'  de  possum  he's  er  feelin* 

Of  de  'simmon's  juicy  peelin*, 
Whattle  make  him  fat  and  fitten  futter  roai*. 

An  de  sunshine's  pale  an*  sailer, 

An*  de  leaves  air  turnin  yaller* 
An'  de  turkey  gobbler  gobbleth  in  de  Ian'; 

An'  de  pound  cake  air  a  bakin', 

An  de  fat'nin*  pigs  er  quakin', 
For  Thanksgivin'  Day  air  mighty  close  at  han*. 

Hit's  de  day  'at  saint  an'  sinner 

Has  good  eatin's  fur  his  dinner, 
An'  thanks  de  Lord  'at's  kep*  him  safe  an'  soun'. 

An'  I  hopes  de  sin  confessin's 

An'  de  Heabenly  Father's  blessin's 
Will  be  plentiful  enough  to  go  er  roun'. 

— Ellen  Frizell  Wycoff. 

DAT  THANKSGIVIN'  TURKEY. 
Turkey  gobbler,  proud  and  fat, 
Scratchin*  grabble  like  a  cat — 
Now  he  don't  know  where  he's  at— 

Oh,  dat  wishbone! 
Scratchin*  grabble  wid  his  feet, 
Dat's  what  makes  such  tender  meat 
Golly !  ain't  he  plump  and  sweet—      .  . 

Sweet  wishbone ! 
Now's  de  snowflakes  in  de  sky, 
..    .  .      Co'n  pones  costin' mighty  high, 

I  must  make  dese  feathers  fly — 

Oh,  dat  wishbone ! 
Lightwood  fire  de  cabin  cheer- 
Turkey,  now  we're  glad  you's  here, 
Thanksjtfvin'  come  but  once  a  year — 

Sweet  wishbone ! 

A  colored  philosopher  is  reported  to  have  said: 
"Life,  my  bredden,  am  mosly  made  up  of  pr.ayin'  for 
rain  an*  then  wishin*  it  would  cl'ar  off. " 

A  Figurative  Prayer. — A  white  minister  was  con- 
ducting revival  services  in  a  colored  church  in  North 


PLANTATION  MELODIES,  ETC  653 

Carolina.  After  exhorting  a  bit  he  asked  an  old  col- 
ored deacon  to  lead  in  prayer.  According  to  the 
Roanoke  News,  this  is  the  appeal  which  the  brother  in 
black  offered  for  his  brother  in  white: 

"O  Lord,  gib  him  de  eye  ob  de  eagle,  det  he  spy  out 
sin  afar  off.  Wav  his  hands  to  de  gospel  plow.  Tie 
his  tongue  to  de  line  ob  truth.  Nail  his  ear  to  de 
gospel  pole.  Bow  his  head  'way  down  between  his 
knees,  and  his  knees  way  down  in  some  lonesome,  dark 
and  narrer  valley  where  prayer  is  much  wanted  to  be 
made.  'Noint  him  wid  de  kerosene  ile  of  salvation, 
and  sot  him  on  fire. ' ' 

The  above  is  matched  by  the  white  clergyman  in  a 
northern  town,  who  warned  his  hearers  lately  "not  to 
walk  in  a  slippery  path  lest  they  be  sucked,  maelstrom- 
like,  into  its  meshes!"  This  metaphor  suggests  that 
of  another  clergyman  who  prayed  "that  the  word 
might  be  as  a  nail  driven  in  a  sure  place,  sending  its 
roots  downward  and  its  branches  upward. ' ' 

WHEN  DE  CO'N  PONE'S  HOT. 
Dey  is  times  in  life  when  Nature 

Seems  to  slip  a  cog  an'  go, 
Jes'  a-rattlin'  down  creation, 

Lak  an  ocean's  overflow; 
When  de  worl'  jes'  stahts'  a-spinnin* 

Lak  a  picaninny's  top, 
An'  yo'  cup  o'  joy  is  brimmin* 

'T well  it  seems  about  to  slop, 
An'  you  feel  jes'  lak  a  racah 

Dat  is  trainin'  fu'  to  trot — 
When  yo'  mammy  ses  de  blessin* 

An'  de  co'n  pone's  hot. 

When  you  set  down  at  de  table, 

Kin'  o'  weary  lak  an'  sad, 
An*  you'se  jes'  a  little  tiahed, 

An*  purhaps  a  Jittl*  mad; 


654  PROGRESS  OF  A  RACE. 

How  yo'  gloom  tu'ns  into  gladness, 

How  yo'  joy  drives  out  de  doubt, 
When  de  oven  do'  is  opened 

An'  de  smell  comes  po'in'  out! 
Why,  de  'lectric  light  o'  Heaven 

Seems  to  settle  on  de  spot, 
When  yo'  mammy  ses  de  blessin* 

An  de  co'n  pone's  hot. 

When  de  cabbage  pot  is  steamin* 

An'  de  bacon's  good  an'  fat, 
When  de  chittlin's  is  a-sputter'n' 

So's  to  show  yo'  whah  dey's  at; 
Take  away  yo'  sody  biscuit, 

Take  away  yo'  cake  and  pie, 
Fu'  de  glory  time  is  comin', 

An'  it's  'proachin'  very  nigh, 
An'  yo'  want  to  jump  an'  hollah, 

Do'  you  know  you'd  bettah  not, 
When  yo'  mammy  ses  de  blessin' 

An'  de  co'n  pone's  hot. 

I  have  heerd  o'  lots  o'  sermons, 

An'  I've  heerd  o'  lots  o'  prayers; 
An'  I've  listened  to  some  singm* 

Dat  has  tuk  me  up  de  stairs 
Of  de  Glory  Lan',  an*  sent  me 

Jes'  below  de  Mahster's  th'one, 
An*  have  lef '  my  haht  a-singin' 

In  a  happy  af  tah  tone ; 
But  dem  wu's  so  sweetly  murmured 

Seem  to  tech  de  softes'  spot, 
When  my  mammy  ses  de  blessin' 

An*  de  co'n  pone's  hot 

—Paul  Lawrence  Dunbar. 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

PRESENT   STANDING    AND    OUTLOOK. 

Just  Judgment. — It  is  frequently  the  case  that  we 
judge  by  our  immediate  surroundings.  Upon  these 
surroundings  will  depend  our  decisions,  whether  pes- 
simistic or  optimistic  in  sentiment.  It  were  better  for 
us  as  individuals,  as  well  as  a  people,  if  more  frequently 
we  were  to  permit  ourselves  to  take  a  wider  range, 
both  as  to  extent  and  as  to  time. 

Compare,  if  you  will,  the  condition  of  the  Negro 
race  half  a  century  ago  with  that  of  today,  and  the 
most  despondent  must  dismiss  his  fears  and  acknowl- 
edge the  progress  so  marked. 

Then  and  Now.— Then  the  Negro  was  a  piece  of 
property ;  now  he  is  an  American  citizen. 

Then  chains  and  the  lash  and  hounds  were  sending 
a  constant  terror  to  the  heart  of  the  poor  slave ;  now 
the  most  humble  of  the  race  may  claim  the  ballot  and 
protection  from  wrongs  under  the  law  of  the  state*. 

Then  the  Negro  had  no  rights  that  the  white  man 
need  respect;  now  the  Negro  and  the  white  man  are 
equal  before  the  law. 

Education. — Then  it  was  thought  that  the  Negro 
could  not  learn ;  now  he  has  demonstrated  that  such 
thoughts  were  born  of  ignorance  and  prejudice. 

Then  there  were  laws  against  Negro  education ;  now 
laws  adorn  our  statute  books  that  require  the  educa- 
tion of  the  black  man. 

Then  there  was  not  a  school  for  the  Negro;  now 
there  are  more  than  twenty- five  thousand  schools. 

.655 


656  PROGRESS  OF   A   RACE. 

Then  a  Negro  teacher  was  an  impossibility;  now 
twenty- five  thousand  Negro  teachers  are  instructing 
the  youth  of  the  race. 

Then  the  number  of  Negroes  that  could  read  were 
easily  counted;  now  it  requires  a  census-taker  to  in- 
form us  that  four  millions  have  learned  to  read  and 
write. 

Then  there  were  no  Negroes  in  our  public  schools ; 
now  there  are  over  a  million  being  instructed  in  them. 

Then  there  was  gross  darkness  of  ignorance  through- 
out all  the  realms  of  the  race ;  now  the  light  of  intelli- 
gence has  pierced  these  clouds  and  illumined  the  minds 
of  thousands,  who  find  a  black  skin  no  impediment  to 
broad  scholarship  and  astute  and  clear-sighted  compre- 
hension. 

Then  the  conception  of  a  college  or  professional 
school  for  Negroes  would  have  been  regarded  the  prod- 
uct of  a  demented  brain ;  now  colleges  and  universities, 
medical  schools  and  schools  of  law  for  the  colored  race 
are  freely  dotted  on  the  map  of  our  Southland. 

Then  the  charming  Negro  melodies  were  unknown ; 
now* the  Fisk  Jubilee  Singers,  the  Tennesseeans  and 
the  Hamptons  have  sung  the  fame  of  the  Negro  around 
the  world. 

Religion. — Then  the  colored  man,  naturally  inclined 
to  religion,  had  neither  churches  nor  preachers ;  now 
there  are  thousands  of  colored  churches,  owning 
nearly  twenty  millions  of  property,  with  a  membership 
of  nearly  four  millions,  besides  publishing  houses  and 
a  number  of  religious  educational  institutions  wholly 
controlled  by  colored  men. 

Home. — Then  the  Negro  had  no  place  that  to  him 
would  express  one  of  the  most  endearing  words  in  the 
language ;  now  a  great  multitude  can  truly  say,  "  There 
is  no  place  like  home. '" 


PRESENT  STANDING  AND   OUTLOOK.  657 

Social  and  Family  Ties.— Then  these  sacred  ties 
were  ruthlessly  broken  by  the  auction  block ;  now  no 
power  aside  from  the  individuals  themselves  can  sun- 
der these  ties  while  life  remains. 

Financial. — Then  the  Negro  owned  no  foot  of  land, 
nor  property  of  any  kind ;  now  his  accumulations  are 
rated  at  three  hundred  millions. 

Unanswerable. — Behold  this  array  of  contrasted 
facts,  undisputed  and  unsurpassed.  Who  will  deny 
that  they  furnish  an  unanswerable  argument  of  pro- 
gression in  all  lines.  Mark  the  long  column  of  Amer- 
ica's dark  sons  moving  steadily  and  surely  up  the  hill 
of  progress,  removing  one  by  one  the  obstacles  imped- 
ing the  onward  step  and  spirit  of  advancement  of  the 
age. 

Then,  although  with  the  unthinking  and  unreflect- 
ing multitude  you  may  say,  "It  does  not  move,"  your 
better  judgment  and  nobler  self  asserting  its  rights 
with  the  Galileo  of  old,  must  exclaim,  "Nevertheless, 
it  moves. ' ' 

True  Condition. — We  are  not  blind  to  the  true  con- 
dition of  ttn  race.  When  we  assert  that  great  progress 
has  been  made  by  the  race,  we  would  not  have  it  un- 
derstood that  the  race  as  a  whole  has  caught  this  spirit 
of  progress.  This  is  not  the  case ;  there  are  thousands 
today  who  are  removed  but  a  step  above  slavery.  The 
means  at  hand  and  the  short  period  of  time  that  has 
elapsed  since  emancipation  have  not  permitted  the 
work  to  be  as  general  as  might  be  wished. 

Our  Position. — We  must  emphatically  assert  that, 
considering  circumstances,  the  Negro  has  made  re- 
markable progress.  The  work  still  remaining  to  be 
done  is  great  and  large,  but,  noting  advantages,  the 
Negro  compares  favorably  with  any  race.  Just  judg- 

42  Progress. 


C58  .      PROGRESS   OF    A    RACE. 

ment  demands  that  in  considering  the  lower,  ignorant, 
immoral  class  among  the  blacks,  we  must  not  overlook 
the  same  condition  among  the  whites  who  have  had 
the  benefit  of  centuries  of  civilization.  Point  one 
hand  to  the  awful  condition  of  the  lower  classes  of  the 
Negro  and  with  the  other  you  may  single  out  similar 
conditions  among  the  slums  of  our  large  cities  and 
other  places  where  the  refuse  of  Europe's  depraved 
classes  are  dumped  in  masses  upon  our  shores.  Mark, 
also,  the  fact  that  alleged  immorality  among  Negro 
women  is  largely  due  to  the  immorality  of  white  men. 
Then  will  the  Christ  spirit  labor  for  elevation  of  man 
as  man,  without  regard  to  the  color  of  his  skin. 

The  Present  Status. — The  present  status  of  the  Negro 
is  such  as  is  highly  commendable.  Paying  taxes  upon 
$300,000,000  worth  of  property  throughout  this  country, 
occupying  offices  of  high  trust  and  honor  as  national 
gifts,  educating  his  children,  accumulating  wealth,  and 
advancing  in  every  line  of  industry,  the  Negro  has 
need  to  congratulate  himself  and  praise  his  Maker  for 
such  full  and  free  benedictions  so  copiously  showered 
upon  him  the  past  dark  and  stormy  thirty  years. 

Leaders.— "Talks  for  the  Times"  says:  "At  the 
close  of  the  war,  the  Negro  found  himself  in  the  con- 
dition of  a  man  who  wakes  up  out  of  sleep  in  the  midst 
of  a  dream  in  which  all  things  seemed  strange  and 
confused.  It  took  him  some  time  to  adjust  himself  to 
the  new  state  of  affairs.  He  was  restless;  he  could 
hardly  realize  that  he  was  free.  As  the  impotent 
man,  sitting  at  the  gate  of  the  temple,  when  healed  by 
Peter,  not  only  praised  God,  but  walked  and  leaped  to 
satisfy  himself  of  the  genuineness  of  his  cure,  so  the 
Negro,  to  test  his  freedom,  began  to  move  about.  His 
movements,  at  first,  were  individual,  then  general,  as 


PRESENT  STANDING  AND  OUTLOOK.  659 

leaders  sprang  into  existence ;  and  it  is  really  remark- 
able how  many  are  the  leaders  when  the  masses  are 
ignorant.  For  the  first  ten  or  twelve  years  after  the 
war,  nothing  was  more  common  in  the  South  than 
leaders.  Every  little  politician,  every  crank,  consti- 
tuted himself  a  Moses  to  lead  the  Negro  somewhere ; 
and  various  were  their  cries.  One  cried,  'On  to 
Arkansas!'  and  another  'On  to  Texas!'  and  another 
'On  to  Africa!'  and  each  one  had  a  following' more  or 
less.  One  man  told  me  that  he  had  succeeded  in  lead- 
ing away  from  South  Carolina  and  Georgia  to  Arkan- 
sas and  Texas  25,000  persons." 

Levers  That  Move  the  World. — Professor  Harris 
says:  "The  most  powerful  men  of  the  world  are  not 
those  who  control  the  markets,  but  they  who  control 
the  hearts  and  direct  the  thoughts  of  their  fellow 
men.  Jesus  Christ,  in  His  life  and  teachings,  has  left 
us  a  much  richer  legacy  than  if  He  had  turned  every 
stone  of  Judea  into  a  nugget  of  gold ;  than  if  He  had 
forecast  all  the  inventions  of  all  the  ages  and  had 
made  the  streams  of  Palestine  resonant  with  the  hum 
of  factory  wheels,  had  lighted  up  the  streets  of  Jerusa- 
lem with  the  electric  light,  and  had  enabled  Herod  to 
talk  with  Augustus  Caesar  by  means  of  the  telephone. 
Homer,  singing  his  Iliad,  while  begging  his  bread; 
poor  blind  Milton,  in  his  Paradise  Lost ;  the  thinker, 
Bunyan,  in  his  Pilgrim's  Progress;  Carlyle,  writing 
his  Heroes  and  Hero  Worship,  with  only  a  silver  spoon 
between  him  and  the  wolf  at  the  door,  have  made  the 
world  far  richer  and  happier  and  better  than  they  ever 
could  have  done  had  they  devoted  their  lives  to  the 
amassing  of  wealth.  These  are  the  men  who  hold  the 
levers  that  move  the  world.  Their  influence  is  far 
deeper  and  longer  lasting  than  that  of  any  Wall  street 


660  PROGRESS   OF    A    RACE. 

broker  or  railroad  king.  These  are  the  men  who 
fashion  the  lives  and  determine  the  character  of  gener- 
ations to  come.  These  are  the  men  to  whom  the  world 
looks  for  hope  in  time  of  despair,  and  light  in  time  of 
darkness.  They  are  the  very  salt  of  our  civilization, 
and  without  the  impulse,  the  hope  and  the  inspiration 
which  we  gather  from  them  and  their  lives,  we  should 
relapse  into  barbarism.  Let  us  imitate  them. 

Warfare  Against  Wrong. — As  Hannibal,  almost 
as  soon  as  he  was  born  into  the  world,  was  made  to 
swear  eternal  warfare  against  Rome,  so  should  the 
educated,  Christian  young  men  of  our  race,  as  soon  as 
they  are  born  into  the  Kingdom  of  God,  dedicate  them- 
selves to  a  life-long  warfare  against  the  degradation 
and  wrongs  of  our  people.  As  Cato  was  so  possessed 
by  the  sense  of  danger  that  threatened  Rome  from 
Carthage  that  he  ended  all  of  his  speeches  with 
4 'Carthage  must  be  destroyed,"  so  should  the  educated 
young  men  of  our  race  be  so  possessed  with  a  sense  of 
the  dangers  that  are  not  only  coming  to  us.  from 
without,  but  are  also  existing  within,  that  the  remedy 
for  these  evils  should  be  the  keynote  of  every  song, 
the  burden  of  every  prayer,  and  the  theme  of  every 
address. 

A  Hundred  Men. — Dr.  Josiah  Strong  is  authority  for 
the  statement  that  at  one  time  Napoleon  Bonaparte 
wanted  one  hundred  men  to  do  a  piece  of  strategic 
work.  In  calling  for  a  hundred  volunteers,  he  explain- 
ed to  his  regiment  that  although  ultimate  victory 
would  be  secured,  every  one  of  those  one  hundred  men 
would  be  instantly  killed.  Notwithstanding  this  warn- 
ing of  certain  death,  not  only  one  hundred  soldiers, 
but  the  whole  regiment,  down  to  a  man,  stepped  for- 
ward and  offered  themselves  to  the  Emperor's  service. 


PRESENT   STANDING  AND   OUTLOOK.  661 

Arouse  to  Action. — If  one  man,  like  Napoleon  Bon- 
aparte, could  waken  such  enthusiasm  among  his 
soldiers  that  they  were  willing  to  die  for  him,  how 
much  more  should  the  condition  and  needs  of  our 
people  awaken  a  similar  enthusiasm  among  us?  How 
much  more  should  we  be  aroused  to  action  by  the  pit- 
iable condition  of  our  race — by  their  moral  degrada- 
tion, by  their  intellectual  poverty,  and  by  their  wrongs 
which  cry  day  and  night  unto  the  God  of  heaven  for 
vengeance.  How  much  more  should  we  be  moved  by 
that  large  army  of  rag-clad,  husk-fed,  unwashed, 
disease-breeding  colored  people,  so  ignorant  that,  like 
the  Ninevites,  they  do  not  know  their  right  hand  from 
their  left,  and  by  that  nearly  two  hundred  who  are 
lynched  every  year,  men  who  are  "butchered"  by 
midnight  revelers,  "to  make  for  them  a  Roman 
holiday?" 

Just  Tribute.- -Dr.  Hay  good  says:  "With  all 
his  faults  and  imperfections,  many  of  them  cruelly 
exaggerated  by  caricaturists  and  sensational  writers, 
I  bear  this  testimony  to  the  Negro  preacher  in  the 
South :  Life  would  be  much  harder  there  without  him. 
With  rare  exceptions,  they  have  been  found  on. the 
side  of  law  and  order,  and  in  our  days  of  distress  and 
storm  they  were,  as  a  class,  conservators  of  the  peace. 
There  are  some  shocking  exceptions.  They  have 
urged  their  people  to  send  their  children  to  school,  and 
have  been  useful  in  a  thousand  ways.  The  tens  who 
fall' into  disgrace  and  sin  are  widely  advertised ;  the 
hundreds  who  simply  do  their  duty  are  unknown  .to 
the  newspaper  world.  I  have  seen  them  in  their  many 
religious  moods ;  in  their  most  death-like  trances,  and 
in  their  wildest  outbreaks  of  excitement.  I  have 
preached  to  them  in  town  and  country  and  on  the  plan- 


662  PROGRESS    OF    A    RACE. 

tations.  I  have  been  their  pastor,  have  led  their  classes 
and  prayer  meetings,  conducted  their  love  feasts  and 
taught  them  the  catechism.  I  have  married  them, 
baptized  their  children  and  buried  their  dead.  In  the 
reality  of  religion  among  them  I  have  the  most  entire 
confidence,  nor  can  I  ever  doubt  it  while  it  is  a  reality 
to  me.  In  many  things  their  motions  may  be  crude, 
their  conceptions  of  truth  realistic,  sometimes  to  a 
painful,  sometimes  to  a  grotesque,  degree.  They  are 
more  emotional  than  ethical. 

"Strongest  Characteristic. — The  average  of  their 
morals  is  not  high ;  they  do  many  things  they  ought 
not ;  nevertheless,  their  religion  is  their  most  striking 
and  important,  their  strongest  and  their  most  forma- 
tive characteristic.  They  are  more  remarkable  here 
than  anywhere  else;  their  religion  has  had  more  to  do 
in  shaping  their  better  character  in  this  country  than 
all  other  influences  combined ;  it  will  most  determine 
what  they  are  to  become  in  their  future  development. 
It  is  wrong  to  condemn  them  harshly  when  judged  by 
the  standard  white  people  hardly  dare  apply  to 
themselves  with  their  two  thousand  years  the  start  of 
them.  The  just  God  did  not  judge  half -barbarous 
Israel,  wandering  in  the  twilight  about  the  wilderness 
of  Sinai,  as  he  judges  us  on  whom  the  sun  of  right- 
eousness has  risen  with  the  full  light  of  the  Gospel 
day." 

Unparalleled. — The  history  of  the  Negro  on  this 
continent  is  full  of  pathetic  and  tragic  romance,  and  of 
startling,  unparalleled  incident.  The  seizure  in  Africa, 
the  forcible  abduction  and  cruel  exportation,  the  coer- 
cive enslavement,  the  subjection  to  environments  which 
emasculate  a  race  of  all  noble  aspirations  and  doom 
inevitably  to  hopeless  ignorance  and  inferiority,  living 


PRESENT  STANDING  AND   OUTLOOK.  663 

In  the  midst  of  enlightenments  and  noblest  civilization, 
and  yet  forbidden  to  enjoy  the  benefits  of  which  others 
were  partakers,  for  four  years  amid  battle,  and  yet, 
for  the  most  part,  having  no  personal  share  in  the 
conflict,  by  statute  and  organic  law  of  nations  held  in 
fetters  and  inequality,  and  then,  in  the  twinkling  of 
an  eye,  lifted  from  bondage  to  freedom,  from  slavery 
to  citizenship,  from  dependence  on  others  and  guard- 
ianship to  suffrage  and  eligibility  to  office,  can  be 
predicated  of  no  other  race.  Other  peoples,  after  long 
and  weary  years  of  discipline  and  struggle  against 
heaviest  odds,  have  won  liberty  and  free  government. 
This  race,  almost  without  lifting  a  hand,  unapprecia- 
tive  of  the  boon  except  in  the  lowest  aspects  of  it,  and 
unprepared  for  privileges  and  responsibilities,  has  been 
lifted  to  a  plane  of  citizenship  and  freedom  such  as 
is  enjoyed,  in  an  equal  degree,  by  no  people  in  the 
world  outside  of  the  United  States. 

Thought.— Professor  H.  T.  Keating,  A.  M.,  editor 
of  the  A.  M.  E.  Church  Review  recently  said:  "One 
does  not  begin  to  be  a  man  till  he  rises  above  physical 
sensation  into  thought  realms.  Man  should  feel  the 
mind  and  soul  as  well  as  the  body.  What  a  pitiable 
sight  to  see  a  3oo-pound  body  inhabited  by  a  two-ounce 
mind.  The  Negro  can  look  for  honorable  connection 
with  the  progress,  invention  and  civilization  of  the  age 
only  by  his  thought  relation  to  it.  It  is  not  sufficient 
that  when  a  telegraph  system  is  begun  we  should  dig 
the  postholes.  It  will  not  give  us  a  place  among  the 
great  American  forces  that  are  threading  this  country 
with  railroads  for  us  to  cut  the  ties.  Muscle  is  not 
manhood.  Physical  size  is  not  greatness.  If  it  wer^ 
the  elephant  is  a  greater  man  than  man.  Thought, 
power,  character,  and  integrity  are  the  elements  we 
need. 


664  PROGRESS   OF    A    RACE. 

Age  of  Progress. — * *  It  is  not  enough  to  congratulate 
ourselves  on  living  in  an  age  of  progress.  If  a  train  is 
passing  through  this  city,  and  a  passenger  in  the  rear 
coach  hopes  to  sit  still  and  overtake  a  passenger  in  the 
front  coach,  his  hope  will  be  vain.  He  must  put  forth 
personal  locomotion.  Now  the  train  of  progress  is 
passing  through  the  land.  There  is  a  man  on  the 
front  coach,  we  call  him  the  white  man.  There  is  a 
man  on  the  rear  coach,  we  call  him  the  black  man. 
We  must  do  something  ourselves  for  ourselves  before 
we  enter  among  the  producing  forces. 

Companionship, — "Give  us  men  who  can  retrospect 
the  past  and  project  intelligent  glances  into  the  future. 
Make  your  companionship  with  Homer,  Dante,  Darwin, 
Emerson,  and  Carlyle. 

Confusion. — "Some  assert  that  the  Negro  is  retro- 
grading, and  they  cite  the  confusion  and  unclassified 
state  of  our  society  in  proof.  But  this  confusion  is  to 
me  a  strong  sign  of  advancement. 

"Suppose  two  men  are  asleep  in  the  dirt  and  mud. 
There  is  no  confusion  there.  All  is  peace — the  peace 
of  common  filth  and  lethargy.  But  suppose  one  of 
them  attempts  to  get  up.  The  other  insists  that  he. 
lie  still;  now  arises  a  struggle;  now  comes  confusion. 
There  was  once  no  confusion  among  us.  We  were  all 
down  and  asleep.  Now  some  of  us  are  getting  up, 
and  the  struggle  is  on ;  but  who  would  not  rather  have 
confusion  of  getting  up  than  the  peace  of  slumber.? 
Rise  above  adverse  circumstances.  Be  ^masters  of 
circumstances."  .  ... 

Marvel  of  Ages.— "Talks  for  the  Times'-'  says.:  "But 
it  may  be  well  for  us  now  to  take  a  retrospective  view  of 
the  path  we  have  traveled  as  freedmen.  It  is  thirty- 
two  years  since  Abraham  Lincoln  gave  to  the  world 


PRESENT  STANDING  AND  OUTLOOK        665 

his  immortal  proclamation.  For  thirty- two  years  we 
have  enjoyed  freedom,  however  imperfect  it  may  have 
been.  Have  we  shown  ourselves  worthy  of  it?  Thanks 
be  to  God,  we  are  not  our  own  judges!  The  world 
has  sat  in  judgment  upon  us.  Our  friends  and  our 
enemies  have  united  in  the  confession  that  the  progress 
of  the  American  Negro  under  freedom  is  one  of  the 
marvels  of  the  age.  It  has  no  parallel  in  the  world's 
history.  National  statistics,  statistics  of  states,  reports 
of  benevolent  organizations,  all  prove  this  beyond  the 
shadow  of  a  doubt.  We  have  written  the  last  thirty- 
two  years  of  our  history  in  acts.  We  have  done  a  great 
many  things  which  the  philosophers  prophesied  we 
could  not  do.  First,  it  was  predicted  that  we  should 
all  die  out  under  freedom,  and  many  simple-minded 
people  slept  soundly  on  that  theory  until  the  census  of 
1880  revealed  the  startling  fact  that,  instead  of  dying 
out,  we  are  increasing  fearfully  and  wonderfully.  It 
became  evident  then  that,  although  we  are  a  race  of 
idiots  and  fools,  we  are  not  such  fools  as  to  live  through 
American  slavery  and  die  out  under  American  free- 
dom— live,  forsooth,  when  we  ought  to  die,  and  die 
when  we  ought  to  live!  No,  no,  no,  we  are  not  so 
demented  as  all  that,  whatever  may  be  the  shape  and 
thickness  of  our  skulls. 

The  Future.— George  Williams  aptly  says :  -. "  But 
what  of  the  future?  Can  the  Negro  endure  the  sharp 
competition  of  American  civilization?  .Can  he-  keep 
his  position  against  the  tendencies  to  amalgamation.? 
Since  it.  has  been  proven  that  the  .  Negro  is  not  .-dying" 
out,  but,  on  the  contrary,  possesses  the  -powers  of  repro- 
duction to  a  remarkable  degree,  a  new  source  of  danger 
has  been  discovered.  It  is  said  that  the  Negro  will 


666  PROGRESS  OF  A  RACE. 

perish,  will  be  absorbed  by  the  dominant  race  ere  long ; 
that  Where  races  are  crossed  the  inferior  race  suffers ; 
and  that  mixed  races  lack  the  power  to  reproduce 
species ,  and  that  hence  the  disappearance  of  the  Negro 
is  but  a  question  of  time. 

Perished. — Whatever  merit  this  view  possessed  be- 
fore the  war  of  the  Rebellion,  it  is  obsolete  under  the 
present  organization  of  society.  The  environment  of 
the  Negro,  the  downward  tendencies  of  his  social  life, 
and  the  exposed  state  in  which  slave  laws  left  him,  have 
all  perished.  In  addition  to  his  aptitude  for  study  and 
capacity  for  improvement,  he  is  now  under  the  protect- 
ing and  restraining  influence  of  congenial  climate ;  and 
pure  sociological  laws  will  impart  to  his  offspring  the 
power  of  reproduction  and  the  ability  to  maintain  an 
excellent  social  footing  with  the  other  races  of  the 
world. 

Race  Prejudice. — Race  prejudice  is  bound  to  give 
way  before  the  potent  influences  of  character,  education 
and  wealth.  Without  wealth  there  can  be  no  leisure, 
without  leisure  there  can  be  no  thought,  and  without 
thought  there  can  be  no  progress. 

Twofold. — The  future  work  of  the  Negro  is  twofold ; 
subjective  and  objective.  Years  will  be  devoted  to 
his  own  .education  and  improvement  here  in  America 
He  will  sound  the  depths  of  education,  accumulate 
wealth,  and  then  turn  his  attention  to  the  civilization 
of  Africa.  The  United  States  will  yet  establish  a  line 
of  steamships  between  this  country  and  the  Dark 
Continent.  Touching  at  the  grain  coast,  the  ivory 
coast,  and  the  gold  coast,  America  will  carry  the  Afri- 
can missionaries,  Bibles,  papers,  improved  machinery, 
instead  of  rum  and  chains.  And  Africa,  in  return,  will 
send  America  indigo,  palm-oil,  ivory,  gold,  diamonds, 


PRESENT  STANDING  AND   OUTLOOK.  667 

costly  wood,  and  her  richest  treasures,  instead  of  slaves. 
Tribes  will  be  converted  to  Christianity;  cities  will 
rise;  states  will  be  founded;  geography  and  science 
will  enrich  and  enlarge  their  discoveries ;  and  a  telegraph 
cable  binding  the  heart  of  Africa  to  the  ear  of  the  civil- 
ized world,  every  throb  of  joy  or  sorrow  will  pulsate 
again  in  millions  of  souls.  In  the  interpretation  of 
History,  the  plans  of  God  must  be  discerned,  "For 
a  thousand  years  in  Thy  sight  are  but  as  yesterday 
when  it  is  passed,  and  as  a  watch  in  the  night. ' ' 

Advancement. — Doctor  Carroll  says:  "What  he  has 
done  for  himself  under  great  difficulties  and  discourage- 
ments in  the  last  third  of  the  nineteenth  century  is  a 
splendid  prophecy  of  what  he  will  be  in  the  twentieth 
century.  He  has  quickly  learned  that  superior  position 
is  open  to  him  in  just  the  same  terms  as  to  any  other 
citizen,  and  that  if  he  would  have  his  superiority  recog- 
nized he  must  demonstrate  it.  Prejudice  cannot  with- 
stand demonstration.  It  must  yield,  however,  slowly ; 
and  colored  statesmen,  merchants,  bankers,  lawyers, 
doctors,  ministers,  educators,  will  win  their  way  by 
forces  which  are  not  an  accident  of  race  or  color,  but 
are  developed  by  culture. 

Difficulties. — The  strong,  senseless,  but  galling  prej- 
udices which  confront  the  Negro  are  by  no  means  his 
greatest  obstacles  to  success.  There  are  ignorance, 
vice  and  thriftlessness,  which,  like  their  opposite 
virtues,  are  not  confined  to  a  particular  race,  but  beset 
humanity  in  general.  He  has  shown  that  he  has  the 
power  to  rise  above  the  condition  of  a  slave,  and  I  look 
confidently  forward  to  a  brilliant  future  for  him.  I 
have  no  idea  that  he  will  leave  this  country.  His 
greatest  achievements  will  be  here  on  the  soil  that  is 
as  much  his  as  ours.  Here  are  found  the  conditions 


668  PROGRESS   OF  A   RACE. 

which  are  needed  for  his  development,  and  here 
he  will  stay  to  contribute  his  share  to  the  pros- 
perity and  glory  of  our  great  nation.  I  should  expect 
to  see  a  larger  immigration  from  Africa  in  the  twentieth 
century  than  emigration  to  Africa. ' ' 

Evangelization. — It  is  not  his  duty  to  evangelize 
Africa.  The  responsibility  for  that  great  work  rests 
on  Christians  in  every  nation.  He  will  simply  take 
his  part  in  it.  We  may  expect  it  will  be  a  large  part. 
His  zeal  will  be  great,  his  qualifications  unquestiona- 
ble, and  we  may  hope  that  the  redemption  of  his  own 
race  in  the  Dark  Continent  will  stimulate  his  heartiest 
endeavors  and  his  largest  sacrifices. 

Possibilities. — We  see  in  him  as  a  free  man  excel- 
lencies and  possibilities  to  which  slavery  made  us 
blind.  He  has  struggled  against  our  doubts  and  fears, 
and  has  fairly  conquered  our  long-lived,  pertinacious 
prejudices.  Many,  even  of  those  who  wanted  him  to 
be  free  and  gave  him  their  sympathy,  had  grave  mis- 
givings as  to  his  capacity  for  the  highest  duties  of  cit- 
izenship. He  has  had  to  prove,  since  the  war,  that 
schools  and  educational  processes  are  of  use  to  him. 
The  first  teachers  who  came  South  to  instruct  him 
were  eagerly  questioned  as  to  his  ability  to  learn. 
When  this  doubt  was  satisfied,  another  was  expressed: 
Was  not  his  ability  to  learn  exceptional?  Was  the 
higher  education  possible  to  any  of  his  race?  We  feel 
a  sense  of  shame  in  simply  recounting  the  historical 
fact;  but  it  is  a  fact,  and  the  greatest  achievement  of 
the  Negro  of  the  nineteenth  century  is  in  forcing  from 
tis  the. acknowledgment  of  his  large  capacity. 

Ability  Must  Be  Recognized.— Professor  Booker  T. 
Washington  says:  "The  race  problem  will  work  itself 
out  in  proportion  as  the  black  man,  by  reason  of  his 


STANDING  AND  OUTLOOK.  669 

skill,  intelligence  and  character,  can  produce  some- 
thing that  the  white  man  wants  or  respects.  One  race 
respects  another  in  proportion  as  it  contributes  to  the 
markets  of  the  world,  hence  the  value  of  industrial 
training.  The  black  man  that  has  mortgages  on  a 
dozen  white  men's  homes  will  have  no  trouble  in  vot- 
ing. The  black  man  that  spends  $10,000  a  year  in 
freight  charges  can  select  his  own  seat  in  a  railroad 
car,  else  a  Pullman  palace  car  will  be  put  on  for  him. 
When  the  black  man,  by  reason  of  his  knowledge  of 
the  chemistry  of  the  soil  and  improved  methods  of  agri- 
culture, can  produce  forty  bushels  of  corn  on  any  acre 
of  land,  while  his  white  brother  produces  only  twenty 
bushels,  the  white  man  will  come  to  the  black  man  to 
learn,  and  they  will  be  good  friends.  The  black  man  that 
has  $50,000  to  lend  will  never  want  for  friends  and 
customers  among  his  white  neighbors.  It  is  right  and 
important  that  all  the  privileges  of  the  Constitution 
should  be  ours ;  but  it  is  vastly  more  important  to  us  that 
we  be  prepared  for  the  exercise  of  these  privileges. 
Those  who  died  and  suffered  on  the  battle  field  per- 
formed their  duty  heroically  and  well,  but  a  duty 
remains  to  you  and  me.  The  mere  fiat  of  law  could 
not  make  a  dependent  man  an  independent  man ;  could 
not  make  an  ignorant  man  an  intelligent  voter;  could 
not  make  one  man  respect  another ;  these  results  come 
to  the  Negro  as  to  all  races,  by  beginning  at  the  bot- 
tom and  gradually  working  toward  the  highest  civiliza- 
tion and  accomplishments. 

Our  Passport. — "Tell  them  that  by  the  way  of  the 
shop,  the  field,  the  skilled  hand,  habits  of  thrift  and 
economy,  by  way  of  industrial  school  and  college,  we 
are  coming.  We  are  crawling  up,  working  up,  yea, 
bursting  up.  Often  through  oppression,  unjust  discrim- 


670  PROGRESS     OF    A    RACE. 

ination  and  prejudice, but  through  them  all  we  are  com- 
ing up,  and  with  proper  habits,  intelligence  and 
property,  there  is  no  power  on  earth  that  can  perma- 
nently stay  our  progress.  During  the  next  half  century 
and  more,  my  race  must  continue  passing  through  the 
severe  American  crucible.  We  are  to  be  tested  in  our 
patience,  our  forbearance,  our  perseverance,  our  power 
to  endure  wrong,  to  withstand  temptations,  to  econo- 
mize, to  acquire  and  use  skill;  our  ability  to  compete, 
to  succeed  in  commerce,  to  disregard  the  superficial 
for  the  real,  the  appearance  for  the  substance,  to  be 
great  and  yet  small,  learned  and  yet  simple,  high  and 
yet  the  servant  of  all.  This — this  is  the  passport  to 
all  that  is  best  in  the  life  of  our  republic,  and  the 
Negro  must  possess  it  or  be  debarred. 

Hopeful  and  Cheerful  Spirit. — "I  am  exceedingly 
anxious  that  every  colored  man  and  woman  should 
keep  a  hopeful  and  cheerful  spirit  as  to  the  future. 
Despite  all  of  our  disadvantages  and  hardships,  ever 
since  our  forefathers  set  foot  upon  American  soil  as 
slaves,  our  pathway  has  been  marked  by  progress. 
Think  of  it !  We  went  into  slavery  a  piece  of  property ; 
we  came  out  American  citizens.  We  went  into  slavery 
without  a  language ;  we  came  out  speaking  the  proud 
Anglo-Saxon  tongue.  We  went  into  slavery  with 
slave  chains  about  our  wrists ;  we  came  out  with  the 
American  ballot  in  our  hands. " 

Be  Charitable  to  the  South. — Some  of  our  Northern 
people  are  very  impatient  with  the  manner  in  which 
the  Southerner  treats  the  Negro. 

Let  it  be  known  to  such  that  as  late  as  1831  Miss 
Prudence  Crandall,  who  first  admitted  a  colored  girl 
into  her  school  and  afterwards  established  a  school  for 
colored  girls,  was  subjected  to  all  kinds  of  inhumani- 


PRESENT  STANDING  AND  OUTLOOK        671 

ties.  Dealers  in  all  sorts  of  wares  and  produce  agreed 
to  sell  nothing  to  Miss  Crandall,  the  stage  driver 
declined  to  carry  her  pupils,  neighbors  refused  a  pail 
of  fresh  water,  even  though  they  knew  that  their  own 
sons  had  filled  her  well  with  stable  refuse.  Boys  and 
rowdies  were  allowed  unchecked  liberty,  and  were 
even  encouraged  to  exercise  their  utmost  ingenuity  in 
mischievous  annoyances.  Stones  and  bad  eggs  were 
thrown  against  her  windows.  Her  parents  were  threat- 
ened with  heavy  fines  for  visiting  her.  She  was 
arrested  and  put  into  jail.  Town  meetings  were  held. 
The  legislature,  upon  petition,  passed  laws  against  her 
action,  the  crime  being  nothing  more  than  teaching  a 
dozen  Negro  girls.  Religious  services  were  disturbed, 
efforts  were  made  to  set  fire  to  her  house,  and  finally, 
in  the  darkness  of  the  night,  a  body  of  men  beat  in 
the  windows  of  her  house  with  iron  bars.  This  brave 
woman  was  then  compelled  to  break  up  her  school, 
and  send  her  pupils  home. 

Do  you  say  this  was  in  the  Sunny  South?  No;  this 
happened  two  generations  ago  in  the  sober  state  of 
Connecticut. 

Have  Courage. — Let  those  who  think  that  the  Negro 
has  no  rights  that  the  white  man  need  respect  look  at 
that  picture  and  then  compare  it  with  the  unbounded 
enthusiasm  and  the  royal  welcome  given  Booker  T. 
Washington  at  the  unveiling  of  the  Shaw  monument 
in  Boston  in  1897. 

Two  Generations. — If  two  generations  have  made 
such  a  change  in  sentiment,  the  most  despondent  and 
disheartened  may  take  courage,  for  prejudice  against 
color  is  certainly  dying  out. 

Bishop  Duncan  once  said :  "I  was  born  among  you. 
Don't  think  yourselves  as  'colored  people,'  but  think 


672  PROGRESS  OF  A  RACE. 

about  yourselves  as  those  whom  God  has  called  to  be 
men.  I  never  put  in  my  definition  of  'man'  the  idea 
of  color.  Be  men,  and  I  assure  you  that  lines  of  long- 
itude will  not  measure  the  respect  given  you.  Deter- 
mine that  you  will  solve  your  own  problem  by  being 
true  to  the  estate  to  which  you  are  called  in  these 
latter  days. ' ' 

Not  in  Congress. — The  future  of  the  race  is  not  so 
much  in  Congress  and  the  legislature,  as  in  man  him- 
self. While,  on  the  one  hand,  the  white  man  must 
learn  in  many  cases  to  treat  the  colored  man  as  a  man, 
on  the  other  hand,  nothing  will  so  soon  bring  about 
the  harmony  and  pleasant  feeling  desired  as  the  up- 
right conduct  of  the  Negro  himself.  His  progress  in 
the  past  generation  has  surprised  the  most  sanguine 
and  hopeful  ones.  The  solution  of  the  Negro  problem 
lies  in  the  same  direction. 

Not  Imaginary,  but  Real. — There  is  a  future  before 
the  race.  In  the  face  of  many  opposing  forces,  in 
defiance  of  the  predictions  of  despondent  ones,  a  great 
and  useful  future  lies  just  beyond.  Home  life,  for  no 
people  rises  higher  than  its  home  life,  must  be  pure, 
happy  and  intelligent.  Then  will  the  future  waft  upon 
its  breezes  sweet  and  noble  influences  and  results  that 
will  touch  every  phase  of  the  world's  life,  and  bring 
men  into  sweeter  harmony  with  one  another  and  with 
God. 


CHAPTER  XIX. 


STATISTICS    OF    THE    RACE. 

AREA  AND  POPULATION  OF  THE  WORLD. 

Area  of  the  World  No.  of 

in  Square  Miles.  Inhabitants. 

Asia 14,710,000  855,000,000 

Africa 1 1,5 14,000  130,000,000 

North  America 6,446,000  89,250,000 

South  America 6,837,000  36,420,000 

Australia 3,288,000  4,730,000 

NUMBER  OF  INHABITANTS  OF  THE   WORLD  BY 
RACES. 

Caucasian 545,000,000 

Mongolian 630,000,000 

Negro 225,000,000 

Malay 35,000,000 

Indian 15,000,000 

POPULATION  OF   THE   UNITED   STATES  BY  SEX, 

GENERAL    NATIVITY,  AND    COLOR: 

1890  AND  1900. 


SEX,  GENERAL 
NATIVITY 
AND  COLOR. 

AGGREGATES. 

PEE   CENT  OF 
TOTAL 
POPULATION. 

INCREASE  FROM 
1890  TO  1900. 

190O 

1890 

190O 

189O 

Number. 

Per 

cent. 

Total  population 
Males  

76,303,387 

63,069,756 

100.0 

100.0 

13,233,631 

21.0 

89,059,242 
37,244,145 
65,843,302 
10,460,085 
66,990,802 
9,312,585 
5&740.7S9 
41,053,417 
15,687,322 
10,250,068 
8,840,789 
119,050 
85,386 
266,760 

32,315,063 
80,754,693 
53,761,665 
9,308,091 
55,166,184 
7,903,572 
46,030,105 
34,514,450 
11,515,655 
9,136,079 
7,488,788 
126,778 
14,399 
273,607 

51.2 
48.8 
86.3 
13.7 
87.8 
12.2 
74.4 
53.8 
20.6 
18.4 
11.6 
0.2 
0.1 
0.3 

51.2 
48.8 
85.2 
14.8 
87.5 
12.5 
73.0 
54.7 
18.3 
14.5 
11.9 
0.2 
(»> 
04 

6,744,179 
6,489,452 
12,081,637 
1,151,994 
11,824,618 
1,409,013 
10,710,634 
6,538,967 
4,171,667 
1,113,984 
1,852,001 
»7,728 
71,587 
16,847 

20.9 
21.1 
22.5 
12.4 
21.4 
17.8 
28.8 
18.9 
86.2 
12.2 
18.1 
'6.1 
497.2 
'2.5 

Females.                .. 

Natiye  born  
Foreign  born  
White 

Colored* 

Native  white  
Native  parents.  .  . 
Foreign  parents.. 
Foreign  white  
Negrot 

Chinese 

Japanese  

1  Decrease.  f  Includes  all  persons  of  Negro  descent* 

*  Less  than  one- tenth  of  one  per  cent. 

*  Persons  of  Negro  descent,  Chinese,  Japanese  and  Indians. 

673 
48  Progress. 


674 


PROGRESS  OP  A  RACE. 


MALE  AND  FEMALE  CHILDREN  OF  SCHOOL  AGE 
IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Total  number  white  males  from  5  to  20  years  of  age 

inclusive 1 1,296,473 

Negro 1,722,730 

Total  number  white  females  from  5  to  20  years  of  age 

inclusive 1 1,193,733 

Negro 1,777,464 


POPULATION  OF  EACH  STATE  AND  TERRITORY  IN 

THE  UNITED  STATES  ARRANGED  IN 

ALPHABETICAL  ORDER. 

CENSUS  OF  1900. 


States  and  Territories. 

Total 
Population. 

Total 
White. 

Total 
Negro. 

The  United  States  
Alabama  

'176,303,387 
1,828,697 

66,990,802 
I,OOI,I52 

8,840,789 
827,307 

Alaska   

6^,592 

30,  5O7* 

168 

Arizona     

I22.Q3I 

Q2  QO3 

1,848 

I    ^11     ^61 

O44  t»8o 

366,81:6 

i.iS^.o^ 

I.4O2.727 

H.O4C 

Colorado  

5  30,  700 

i;20,O46 

8,570 

908,420 

892,424 

15,226 

184.735; 

IC3.O77 

3O.6o7 

District  of  Columbia  

278,718 

IQI.S32 

86,702 

Florida  

^28,c;42 

2Q7.333 

23O.73O 

2.2l6.33I 

I.l8l.2O4 

I,034,8l3 

Hawaii  

jci  ooi 

66800 

233 

Idaho...  

161.772 

11:4,40? 

2Q3 

4.82  1.?  to 

4,734.873 

8^,078 

Indiana  

2.s  l6  4.62 

2  4c8  £02 

C7,cot: 

Indian  Territory. 

•3Q2  O6O 

302  680 

^68^3 

2.211,8  S3 

2,218,667 

12,603 

Kansas  

I.4.7O  4O? 

1.4  1  6  "IIQ 

C2.OO3 

Kentucky  

2,147,174 

1,862,300 

284,706 

xThe  number  of  Chinese,  Japanese,  and  Indians  is  included  in  the  totals 
of  the  first  column,  but  not  in  the  second  or  third  columns. 


STATISTICS   Of   THE  RACE.  675 

POPULATION  OF  EACH  STATE  AND  TERRITORY-Continued. 


States  and  Territories. 

Total 
Population. 

Total 
White. 

Total 
Negro. 

Louisiana  

I  ^8  1  6l? 

72o  6l2 

6cn  8oi 

Maine  

6oi  160 

6o2  226 

I  7IQ 

Maryland  

i  188  044 

nC2  424 

•o^v 

27C  o6l 

Massachusetts.   .  .  . 

2  80?  7l6 

2  76o  76l 

*jj  »ww*» 
71  O74. 

Michigan. 

2  42O  082 

2  7o8  C67 

j*>y/'t 
ic  816 

Minnesota  

I   7CT    -3QJ. 

•"oy°»3'-'j 

I  777  O76 

4  OCO 

Mississippi. 

••/  j'oyt 

I  CCI  27O 

641  2OO 

*»»y^y 
007  670 

Missouri  

IO5i.»-*/w 

•5  1  06  66l 

2  Q44  847 

l6l  271 

Montana.       ... 

212  72O 

226  283 

I  C27 

Nebraska  

'«**»J«V 

i  066  7oo 

I  056,526 

*O-*J 
6260 

Nevada  

4.2  775 

•5C   ^QC 

171 

New  Hampshire  

dii.<;88 

4.IO.7QI 

1  J*r 
662 

i  883669 

I  8l2  717 

60  8ll 

New  Mexico  

TQC   -ITQ 

1  80  2O7 

i  610 

New  York  

*V3O*W 

7  268  801 

7.1  ^688l 

OO  272 

North  Carolina  

i  807  810 

I    26^   6O^ 

621  l6o 

North  Dakota   

710.146 

1IT712 

286 

Ohio  

4t  1:7  C.AC 

4  060  3O1 

06  ooi 

Oklahoma  

708,771 

767,  ?2  4 

18,831 

Oregon  

417.  5  76 

7O4.<;  82 

I.IOl 

Pennsylvania  

6  7O2  1  1  $ 

6  141  661 

is6  81^ 

Rhode  Island  

428.1;  c6 

4io,oi;o 

0,002 

South  Carolina  

I.74O.7l6 

cc7,go7 

782.721 

South  Dakota 

4IO  57O 

780  714. 

46c 

Tennessee  

2  O2O  6l6 

i  Cdo  1  86 

l8o  217 

Texas  

7  O48.7IO 

2.426.660 

620,722 

Utah  

2?6  74O 

272  4.61* 

672 

Vermont  

747.64.1 

742,771 

826 

Virginia  

I  8?4  l84 

1.102  8?t; 

660,722 

Washington  

erg  TQ7 

4o6  7O4 

2.CI1 

West  Virginia  

058.800 

om,277 

17,400 

Wisconsin  

2,o6o  O42 

2.O!?7.OII 

2.C42 

Wyoming  

O2  571 

So.O^I 

04O 

676 


PROGRESS    OP    A   RACE. 


PERCENTAGE  OF  WHITE  AND  COLORED  OF  TOTAL 

POPULATION,   BY  STATES  AND  TERRITORIES, 

ARRANGED  GEOGRAPHICALLY: 

1890  AND  1900. 


STATES  AND  TERRITORIES. 


1900 


White.        Negro.1 


1890 


White.        Negro 


The  United  States... 


(a)  87.8 


North  Atlantic  division 98.1 

Maine 99.7 

New  Hampshire 99.8 

Vermont 99.7 

Massachusetts 98.7 

Rhode  Island 97.8 

Connecticut 98.2 

NewYork 98.5 

New  Jersey 96.2 

Pennsylvania 97.6 

South  Atlantic  division 64.2 

Delaware...  83.4 

Maryland 80.2 

District  of  Columbia....  68.7 

Virginia 64.3 

West  Virginia 95.5 

North  Carolina...  66.7 

South  Carolina 41.6 

Georgia 53.8 

Florida 56.3 

North  Central  division 97.9 

Ohio 97.7 

Indiana 97.7 

Illinois 98.2 

Michigan 99.1 

Wisconsin 99.5 

Minnesota 99.2 

Iowa 99.4 

Missouri 94.8 

North  Dakota 97.7 

South  Dakota 94.8 

Nebraska 99.1 

Kansas 96.3 

South  Central  division 69.7 

Kentucky 86.7 

Tennessee 76.2 

Alabama  54.7 

Mississippi 41.3 

Louisiana 62.8 

Texas 79.6 

Indian  Territory 77.2 


11.6 


1.8 


0.2 
0.2 
0.2 
1.2 
2.1 
1.7 
1.4 
8.7 
2.5 

35.7 


16.6 
19.8 
31.1 
35.6 
4.6 
33.0 
58.4 
46.7 
43.6 

1.9 


2.3 
2.8 
1.8 
0.7 
0.1 
0.3 
0.6 
6.2 
0.1 
0.1 
0.6 
3.5 

29.8 


13.3 
23.8 
45.2 
58.5 
47.1 
20.4 
9.4 


87.5 


98.4 


99.7 
99.8 
§9.7 
98.9 
97.8 
98.8 
98.7 
96.7 
97.9 

63.1 


83.1 
79.8 
67.1 
61.6 
95.7 
65.2 
40.1 
53.9 
57.5 

97.8 


97.8 
97.9 
98.5 
99.0 
99.8 
98.9 
99.4 
94.4 
95.5 
94.1 
98.5 
964 

68.1 


85.6 
75.6 
55.1 
42.2 
4S.9 
78.1 
61.2 


11.9 


1.6 


0.2 
0.2 
0.3 
1.0 
2.1 
1.6 
1.2 
8.8 
2.0 

86.8 

16.9 
20.7 
82.8 
38.4 
4.3 
84.7 
59.9 
46.8 
42.5 

1.9 


2.4 
2.1 
1.5 
0.7 
0.1 
0.3 
0.6 
5.6 
0.2 
0.2 
0.8 
8.5 

81.3 


14.4 
84.4 
44.8 
57.6 
60.0 
21.8 
10.3 


1  Includes  all  persons  of  Negro  descent. 

(»)  The  word  colored  in  the  United  States  census  tables  and  in  the 
statement  following  includes  Negroes,  Chinese,  Japanese,  and  Indians. 
The  last  three  are  omitted  from  the  table  above. 


STATISTICS  OF    THE   RACE.  677 

PERCENTAGE  OF  WHITE  AND  COLORED— Continued. 


STATES  AND  TERRITORIES. 

18 

OO 

18 

9O 

White. 

Negro. 

White. 

Negro. 

South  Central  division  — 
Continued 
Oklahoma  

92.3 

4.7 

79.4 

8.8 

Arkansas 

72.0 

28.0 

72.6 

27.4 

^^estern  division  

94.7 

0.7 

92.6 

0.9 

Montana  

93.0 

0.6 

89.3 

1.0 

\Vyoming  .  .  . 

96.2 

1  0 

94  8 

1.5 

Colorado 

98  0 

1  6 

97  9 

1  5 

New  Mexico    

92.3 

0.8 

89.2 

1.2 

Arizona 

75  6 

1  5 

63  2 

1  5 

Utah  

98.5 

0.2 

97.7 

03 

Nevada 

83  6 

0  3 

82  6 

0  5 

Idaho  

95.5 

0.2 

92.7 

0.2 

\Vashington  .  .            .... 

95  8 

0  5 

95.4 

0.4 

Oregon 

95  4 

0  3 

95  1 

0  4 

California  

94.5 

0.7 

91.6 

0.9 

Alaska 

48  0 

13  4 

0  1 

Hawaii  

43.4 

0  2 

67  4 

Of  the  entire  population  returned  in  1900,  the  white 
element  constitutes  87.8  per  cent,  and  the  colored  (2) 
element.  .12.2  per  cent.,  the  Negro  element  by  itself 
constituting  n.6  per  cento  Ten  years  ago  the  Negro 
element  represented  a  slightly  larger  proportion  of  the 
population,  or  11.9  per  cent.  In  the  two  divisions 
comprising  the  Southern  states  and  territories,  con- 
sidered as  a  whole,  persons  of  Negro  descent  now 
constitute  a  somewhat  less  proportion  of  the  total 
population  than  in  1890,  but  in  certain  of  these  states 
and  territories  in  which  this  element  has  increased 
during  the  decade  at  a  more  rapid  rate  than  the  whites, 
they  constitute  a  slightly  larger  percentage  of  the 
population  in  1900  than  they  did  in  1890,  namely, 
West  Virginia  and  Florida,  in  the  South  Atlantic 
division,  and  Alabama,  Mississippi,  Oklahoma,  and 
Arkansas  in  the  South  Central  division, 


678 


PROGRESS   OF    A    RACE. 


In  South  Carolina  and  Mississippi  the  Negro  element 
predominates,  there  being  in  1900  in  South  Carolina 
782,321  persons  of  Negro  descent  and  557,807  white 
persons,  and  in  Mississippi  907,630  of  the  former  and 
641,200  of  the  latter  element.  Of  the  entire  popula- 
tion of  South  Carolina,  the  Negro  element  constitutes 
58.4  per  cent,  in  1900  as  against  59.9  per  cent,  in  1890, 
while  of  that  of  Mississippi  the  same  element  consti- 
tutes 58.5  percent,  as  against  57.6  per  cent,  in  1890. 
Ten  years  ago  the  Negroes  were  in  the  majority  in 
Louisiana,  when  they  represented  practically  half  of 
the  population,  but  at  the  present  census  they  number 
650,804  and  constitute  only  47.1  per  cent*  of  the 
population  of  that  state.  There  are  now  729,612 
white  persons  in  Louisiana  and  they  constitute  52.8 
per  cent,  of  the  whole  population  as  against  49.9  per 
cent,  in  1890. 

POPULATION  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES  VOTING 
AGES— MALES,  21  YEARS  AND  OVER. 


STATES  AND  TBEBITOEIES. 

Aggregate. 

Total 
White. 

Total 
Negro.? 

The  United  States  

2I.72Q.8lQ 

IO  O36  143 

2  06?  080 

Alabama  

41-1.862 

232.2Q4 

l8l  471 

Alaska  

37.O56 

2C  QC-l 

Hi 

A  A  08  1 

31  Oil 

I  o8l 

Arkansas  

313,836 

226,507 

87.157 

c  11  .087 

l8o  C4K 

•3  711 

Colorado  

185.708 

181  616 

3  215 

Connecticut  

280  ^10 

275  126 

•>»•**  3 

1  576 

Delaware  

ci  018 

1C   CQ2 

fi  77A 

District  of  Columbia  

83.823 

TOOV^ 

60  318 

°»O/4 
23  O72 

Florida  

I-JQ  6oi 

77  062 

6l  117 

1  J uclndee  all  persona  of  Negro  descent. 


STATISTICS    OF    THE   RACE. 


679 


VOTING  POPULATION-Continued. 


STATES  AND  TERRITORIES. 


Aggregate. 


Total 
White. 


Total 
Negro. 


Georgia 500,752 

Hawaii 79.607 

Idaho 53,932 

Illinois 1,401,456 

Indiana 720,206 

Indian  Territory 97»36i 

Iowa 635,298 

Kansas 413,786 

Kentucky 543,996 

Louisiana 325,943 

Maine 217,663 

Maryland 321,903 

Massachusetts 843,465 

Michigan 719,478 

Minnesota 506,794 

Mississippi 349,177 

Missouri 856,684 

Montana 101,931 

Nebraska 301,091 

Nevada 17,710 

New  Hampshire 130,987 

New  Jersey 555,608 

New  Mexico 55,067 

New  York 2,184,965 

North  Carolina 4i?»578 

North  Dakota 95,217 

Ohio 1,212,223 

Oklahoma 109,191 

Oregon 144,446 

Pennsylvania 1317,239 

Rhode  Island 127,144 

South  Carolina 283,325 

South  Dakota 1 12,681 

Tennessee 487,380 

Texas 737,768 

Utah 67,172 


277,496 

19,576 

50,328 

1,370,209 

701,761 

77,865 

630,665 

398,552 

469,206 

177,878 

216,856 

260,979 

830,049 

712,245 

502,384 

150,530 

809,797 

94,873 
297,817 

14,652 
130,648 
532,750 

50,804 

2,145,057 
289,263 

93,237 
1,180,599 

101,543 

131,261 

1,763,482 

124,001 

130,375 

107,353 

375,046 

599,961 

65,205 


223,073 

93 

130 

29,762 

18,186 

9,146 

4,441 

14,695 

74,728 

147,348 

445 
60,406 
10,456 

5,193 
2,168 

197,936 

46,418 

711 

2,298 

70 

230 

21,474 

775 


127,114 

"5 
31,235 

.  4,827 

560 

51,668 

2,765 

152,860 

184 

112,236 

136,875 

358 


680 


PROGRESS   OF    A   RACE. 
VOTING  POPULATION— Continued. 


STATES  AND  TEBBITOBIES. 


Aggregate. 


Total 
White. 


Total 
Negro. 


Vermont 108,356  108,027  289 

Virginia... 447.8i5  3OJ.379  146,122 

Washington 195.572  183,999  1,230 

West  Virginia 247,970  233,129  14,786 

Wisconsin 570,715  567,213  1,006 

Wyoming 37,898  36,262  481 

POPULATION    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES    FOR    THE 

CENSUS    YEARS. 
Census  Year.  White.  Negro.  Population. 

W 3.172,002  757.202  3.929,214 

l8oo 4,306,446  1,002,037  5.308,483 

1810 5,862,166       1,377.808        7.239,881 

"820 7,862,073        1,771,656         9.633,822 

1830 10,537,378  2,328,642  12,866,020 

1840 14,195,805  2,873,648  17,069,453 

1850 19.553,o68  3.638,808  23,191,876 

igoo 26,922,537  4,441,836  31,443,321 

'870 33,589,377   4,880,009   38,558,371 

l88o 43,402,970     6,580,793     50,155,783 

1800 54,983,890     7,470,040     62,622,250 

1900 66,990,802     8,840,788     76,303,387 

CONJUGAL    CONDITION    OF   PERSONS   OF   NEGRO 

DESCENT   IN   THE   UNITED  STATES. 

(Census  of  1890.) 

Single.. 4,669,513 

Married 2,363,231 

Widowed. 411,888 

Divorced 15,907 

Unknown 9>50i 

Total .7,470,040 

CONJUGAL    CONDITION    OF    PERSONS    OF  NEGRO 

DESCENT  TWENTY  YEARS  OF  AGE  AND  OVER. 

Males.                Females.  Total. 

Single 424,552               271,224  695,776 

Married 1,171,671            1,122,619-  2,294,290 

Widowed 91,633              317,893  409,526 

Divorced 5,199                10,391  ic,59o 

Unknown , 4,408               4,563  8,971 


STATISTICS    OF    THE    RACE.  681 

ILLITERATE  POPULATION  OF  NEGRO  DESCENT  TEN 
YEARS  OF  AGE  AND  OVER  IN  1890.* 


Total 3,042,668 

Total  Negro  population  of  the  United  States  ten  years 

of  age  and  over 6,328,972 

SKETCH  OF  THE  NEGRO  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Occupations. — In  1890  out  of  a  total  population  of  62,  - 
000,000,  34  per  cent,  were  engaged  in  gainful  occupa- 
tions; of  the  Negroes,  numbering  7,500,000,  3,000,000, 
or  41  per  cent,  were  engaged  in  gainful  occupations. 
The  proportion  was  much  greater  than  with  the  total 
population.  According  to  the  statistics  of  1890,  the  male 
Negroes  were  slightly  more  occupied  than  were  the 
native  whites,  while  among  the  female  Negroes,  the 
proportion  of  wage  earners  was  much  greater.  Out 
of  every  100  native  whites,  all  pursuing  gainful  occu- 
pations, 85  were  males  and  15  were  females;  out  of 
every  100  Negroes,  69  were  males  and  31  females.  A 
larger  proportion  of  women  pursued  gainful  occupa- 
tions among  the  Negroes  than  among  the  whites.  Of 
the  male  Negro  wage  earners,  more  than  three-fifths 
were  farmers,  and  a  little  less  than  one-fourth  were 
servants ;  of  the  females,  less  than  one-half  were 
farmers,  and  more  than  one-half  were  servants.  This 
large  proportion  of  female  Negro  farmers  was  doubt- 
less made  up  principally  of  women  and  female  children 
employed  in  the  cotton  fields. 

Ownership  of  Farms  and  Homes. — The  statistics  of 
farm  and  home  ownership  and  mortgaged  indebtedness 
throw  some  light  upon  the  pecuniary  condition  of  the 
Negro.  The  total  number  of  farms  and  homes  in  the 
country  in  1890  was  a  little  more  than  twelve  millions, 

"Census  report  for  1900  not  complete  at  time  of  revision,  January,  1902, 


682  PROGRESS  OF  A  RACE. 

of  which  the  Negroes  occupied  nearly  one  and  a  half 
millions.  The  proportion  of  Negroes  of  the  total  pop- 
ulation at  that  time  was  about  1 2  per  cent. ,  showing 
a  deficiency  in  the  proportion  occupying  farms  and 
homes.  The  number  of  farms  in  the  country  was 
4,767,179;  of  these  549,642  were  occupied  by  Negroes. 
The  number  of  homes  in  the  country  was  7,922,973, 
of  which  861,137  were  occupied  by  Negroes. 

Tenants. — Of  the  farms  occupied  by  Negroes,  1 20,  - 
738  were  owned  by  the  occupants;  more  than  three- 
fourths  of  the  farms  occupied  by  Negroes  were  rented. 
In  other  words,  more  than  three-fourths  of  the  Negro 
farmers  were  tenants,  while  less  than  one-fourth  of  the 
white  farmers  were  tenants.  Of  farms  owned  by 
Negroes,  more  were  without  indebtedness  than  those 
owned  by  whites ;  of  houses  owned  by  Negroes,  126,264 
were  free  from  incumbrance,  showing  a  greater  pro- 
portion of  homes  without  indebtedness  than  among 
the  whites. 

Summary. — In  summing  up  the  principal  points,  it 
is  seen  that  in  the  matter  of  occupation  the  Negro  is 
engaged  in  agriculture  or  personal  service;  he  has 
made  little  progress  in  a  generation  in  manufacture, 
transportation  or  trade.  This  could  certainly  not  be 
expected  of  the  first  generation  out  of  slavery.  The 
Negro  has,  during  this  generation,  however,  made 
good  prospects  toward  acquiring  property,  especially 
in  farms  and  homes,  and  in  just  so  far  as  they  have 
acquired  possession  of  real  estate  it  is  safe  to  say  they 
have  become  more  valuable  citizens.  The  outlook  for 
them  is  very  favorable  as  agriculturists,  but  it  will 
require  considerable  time  for  them  to  become  an  im- 
portant factor  in  manufacture,  transportation  or  com- 
merce. 


STATISTICS   OF  THE   RACE.  683 

Distribution  of  the  Negro  Race. — Negroes  are  dis- 
tributed very  unequally  all  over  the  country;  while 
they  are  found  in  every  state  and  territory,  and  in 
almost  every  county  in  the  land,  the  vast  body  of  them 
are  found  in  the  Southern  states,  in  those  states  lying 
south  of  the  Mason  and  Dixon  line  and  the  Ohio  River, 
to  the  north  boundary  of  Missouri,  and  westward  as 
far  as  Texas.  They  are  most  plentiful  in  Maryland, 
Virginia,  South  Carolina  and  Mississippi,  and  secondary 
in  North  Carolina,  Tennessee,  Georgia,  Alabama  and 
Louisiana.  In  the  Northern  and  Western  states  they 
are  very  sparsely  distributed,  with  scarcely  an  excep- 
tion, being  less  than  ;four  of  them  to  a  square  mile, 
while  in  many  places  there  is  less  than  one  to  a  square 
mile. 

The  Negroes  in  Cities.— The  tendency,  as  a  popula- 
tion of  a  country  increases,  is  that  the  increase 
constantly  raises  the  proportion  of  the  population  in 
the  cities.  -  The  proportion  of  the  Negroes  in  the  cities 
has,  however,  been  less  than  that  of  the  whites,  but 
they  -have  gained  upon  the  whites  in  this  regard. 

NEGROES  IN  THE  SLAVE  STATES. 

Delaware. — In  Delaware,  the  proportion  of  Negroes 
in  1790  was  about  22  per  cent.  This  proportion  in- 
creased greatly  until  1840;  since  then  it  has  dimin- 
ished, and  in  1900  was  about  16.6  per  cent. 

In  Maryland  over  one-third  of  the  population  were 
Negroes  in  1790,  and  in  1810  it  had  increased  to  38  per 
cent. ;  in  1900  it  was  less  than  20  per  cent. 

District  ,of  Columbia. — Here  the  proportion  of 
Negroes  in  1800  was  about  29  per  cent,  in  1860  the 
proportion  was  19  per  cent.  During  the  war  many 
Negroes  took  refuge  within  the  capital,  since  which 
time  it  is  about  31  per  cent,  of  the  total  population, 


684  PROGRESS    OF    A    RACE. 

In  Kentucky  one-sixth  of  the  population  were 
Negroes  in  1790;  in  1830  it  was  about  one-fourth;  at 
present  it  is  13^  per  cent.,  less  than  one-sixth. 

In  Tennessee  one-tenth  of  the  population  were 
Negroes  in  1790;  in  1880  it  was  a  little  more  than  one- 
fourth,  since  which  time  it  has  diminished  a  trifle. 

Missouri  had  about  one-sixth  of  its  inhabitants 
Negroes  when  the  first  record  was  given.  It  has 
diminished  rapidly,  and  in  1900  it  was  less  than  one- 
nineteenth  of  the  population. 

Virginia. — In  1790  the  Negroes  constituted  not  less 
than  two-fifths  of  the  inhabitants.  The  proportion 
increased  until  1810,  and  in  1900  it  was  little  less  than 
one-fourth. 

All  of  the  above  are  border  states,  and  show  a  sim- 
ilar history,  excepting  Tennessee  and  the  District  of 
Columbia;  the  remaining  show  a  different  history. 

North  Carolina  started  in  1790  with  27  per  cent., 
and  has  increased  slowly  until  it  reached  33  per  cent. 

South  Carolina  started  with  44  per  cent,  and  in  1880 
more  than  three-fifths  of  the  population  were  Negroes; 
since  then  there  has  been  a  trifling  decrease  in  per  cent. 

Georgia  started  with  36  per  cent. ,  and  continued  to 
increase  until  1880,  since  when  there  has  been  a  slight 
reduction  in  per  pent. 

Florida  began  with  47  per  cent,  of  the  population 
Negroes,  but  it  now  stands  at  43.6  per  cent. 

Alabama  commenced  with  one-third  of  her  people 
Negroes,  and  increased  until  1870;  since  then  there 
has  been  a  decrease  in  per  cent. 

Mississippi  began  with  41  per  cent,  of  her  people 
Negroes,  and  has  increased  up  to  1900  to  58^  per 
cent. 

Louisiana  began  with  55  per  cent,  but  on  the  whole 


S± ATISTICS   OF   THE   RACE.  6§5 

diminished,  and  in  1900  more  than  one-half  of  the 
people  were  Negroes. 

Texas  began  in  1850,  when  28  per  cent,  of  her 
people  were  Negroes,  and  increased  to  31  per  cent, 
^and  then  decreased  rapidly,  largely  due  to  immigration 
to  the  central  part  of  the  state. 

Arkansas  began  when  a  little  less  than  one-eighth 
of  its  people  were  Negroes.  In  1900  the  Negroes 
formed  more  than  one-fourth  of  the  total  population. 

Conclusions. — This  indicates  in  a  general  way  the 
southward  migration  of  the  race  to  the  cotton  states, 
and  an  increase  until  in  the  recent  past. 

Conjugal  Condition. — Comparing  the  conjugal  con- 
dition of  the  Negroes  with  those  of  the  whites  there 
are  two  points  of  difference :  First,  the  Negroes  marry 
younger  than  the  whites,  and  second,  the  proportion  of 
widows  at  most  ages  is  greater  than  among  the  whites. 
The  first  is  in  accord  with  a  shorter  life  period  of  the 
race,  and  the  second  is  a  result  of  a  greater  death  rate 
in  the  race. 

Statistics  of  divorce  show  more  frequent  divorces 
among  the  Negroes  than  among  the  whites. 

Mortality. — The  rate  of  mortality  among  the  Negro 
population  is  considerably  greater  than  among  the 
whites ;  it  is,  however,  difficult  to  obtain  an  accurate 
record  of  the  relative  death  rates  of  the  two  races.  In 
some  of  the  larger  cities  the  death  rate  is  very  nearly 
if  not  quite  double  that  of  the  native  white.  The  rural 
districts  seem  to  show  that  the  disproportion  among 
the  death  rates  is  not  so  great  as  it  is  in  the  larger 
cities. 

Criminality. —  The  proportion  of  criminals  among 
the  Negroes  is  much  greater  than  among  the  whites. 
The  last  census  shows  that  the  proportion  of  Negroes 


686  PROGRESS  OF  A  RACE. 

was  only  tour  times  as  great  as  the  whites.  It  should, 
however,  be  kept  in  mind  that  the  statistics  include 
among  its  criminal  class  the  commitments  of  Negroes 
for  petty  offenses,  which  with  that  race  is  a  greater 
offense  in  proportion  than  among  the  whites. 

Paupers. — No  investigations  have  been  made  among 
these  persons  receiving  out  door  relief  either  perma- 
nently or  temporarily.  The  census  reports  are  of  those 
who  receive  aid  from  alms  houses.  As  these  are  not 
found  in  large  numbers  in  the  South  the  Negro 
paupers,  compared  with  the  whites,  cannot  be  accur- 
ately stated. 

Illiteracy  and  Education.— There  has  been  a  remark- 
able increase  of  the  race  in  the  elements  of  education. 
During  the  prevalence  of  slavery  this  race  was  kept  in 
ignorance;  indeed,  generally  throughout  the  South, 
it  was  held  as  a  crime  to  teach  the  Negro  to  read  and 
write,  and  naturally,  when  they  became  freedmen, 
only  a  trifling  proportion  of  them  were  acquainted 
with  the  elements  of  education.  Five  years  after  they 
became  free,  the  census  shows  that  only  two-tenths  of 
all  Negroes  over  ten  years  could  write.  Ten  years 
later  the  proportion  had  increased  to  three-tenths,  and 
in  1900,  only  a  generation  after  they  were  emanci- 
pated, more  than  forty-seven  out  of  every  one  hundred 
Negroes  2 1  or  more  years  of  age  were  able  to  read  and 
write.  These  figures  show  a  rapidly  increasing 
progress  in  elementary  education.  In  1860  the 
number  of  Negroes  who  were  enrolled  in  the  schools 
of  the  South  was  trifling.  Since  the  abolition  of 
slavery  the  number  has  increased  with  great  rapidity. 

Summary. — The  following  conclusions  may  be  stated 
from  the  preceding  investigations.  The  Negroes, 
without  increasing  rapidly  in  this  country,  are  dimin- 


STATISTICS  OF  THE  RACE.  687 

ishing  in  numbers  relative  to  the  whites.  They  are 
moving  southward  from  the  border  states  into  those 
of  the  South  Atlantic  and  Gulf  states.  They  prefer 
the  country  rather  than  the  city  life.  The  proportion 
of  criminals  is  much  greater  than  among  the  whites, 
and  the  paupers  at  least  as  great,  and  the  indications 
are  the  number  of  attendants  at  school  is  far  behind 
the  number  of  whites,  but  is  rapidly  gaining  upon  the 
race.  To  raise  a  people  from  slavery  to  civilization  is 
a  matter,  not  of  years,  but  of  many  generations.  Their 
industry,  morality  and  education  is  a  source  of  highest 
gratification  to  all  friends  of  the  race  excepting  those 
who  expected  a  miraculous  conversion. 

Colored  Physicians. — It  is  difficult  to  give  the  exact 
number  of  colored  physicians  in  our  country.  Of 
course,  in  the  term  "colored  physicians"  we  include 
only  those  who  have  received  diplomas  from  reputable 
medical  schools.  The  first  attempt  ever  made  to 
compile  a  list  of  these  was  made  by  Dr.  Hubbard, 
Dean  of  Meharry  Medical  College,  through  whose 
kindness  we  are  enabled  to  give  the  following  table. 
This  table  was  first  compiled  at  the  close  of  1895,  and 
there  is  probably  no  one  who  would  be  able  to  give 
more  accurate  statistics  concerning  colored  physicians 
than  Dr.  Hubbard.  We  have  added  one  column, 
bringing  the  list  up  to  1897,  and  have  made  it  as  com- 
plete as  possible.  The  numbers  in  the  last  column  are 
given  by  officers  of  the  different  institutions,  and 
include  all  the  graduates  in  medicine,  dentistry  and 
pharmacy,  while  the  remaining  table  gives  only  the 
graduates  in  medicine  who  practice  in  the  Southern 
states ; 


688 


PROGRESS   OF    A    RACE. 


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5 
11 

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- 

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54 

379 

500 

Howard  University       7.  . 

Leonard  Medical  School  

1 

2 

2 

7 

19 

9 

9 

9 

51 

10? 

New  Orleans  University.. 

1? 

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19 

97 

Louisville  National  

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1 

V 

1 

24 

49 

Other  Colleges  

4 

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4 

8 

9 

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9 

97 

Total    

885 

~"™~ 

13 

22 

11 

39 

53 

25 

9 

19 

28 

26 

55 

65 

23 

2 

The  following  institutions  have  been  established  for 
the  education  of  colored  physicians : 

The  Medical  Department  of  Howard  University, 
Washington,  D.  C.,  was  established  in  1868,  and  has, 
we  are  informed  by  the  secretary,  graduated  about 
500  colored  and  200  white  students.  This  includes  the 
medical,  dental  and  pharmaceutical  departments. 

Meharry  Medical  College  is  the  medical  department 
of  Central  Tennessee  College,  Nashville.  It  was 
opened  in  1876,  and  has  had  308  graduates  in  medi- 
cine, 40  in  pharmacy,  and  31  in  dentistry.  The  med- 
ical department  has  been  in  operation  21  years,  the 
dental  department  n,  and  the  pharmaceutical  8. 
Over  one-half  of  the  colored  physicians  of  the  South 
are  graduates  of  Meharry  Medical  College.  Ninety- 
two  per  cent,  of  the  graduates  of  this  medical  college 
are  practicing  medicine.  Meharry  is  under  the  care 
of  the  Freedman's  Aid  and  Southern  Educational 
Society  of  the  M.  E.  Church. 

Leonard  Medical  College,  of  Shaw  University, 
Raleigh,  North  Carolina,  has  had  80  graduates  in 
medicine,  and  22  in  pharmacy.  Leonard  Medical  Col- 


STATISTICS   OF  THE   RACfi. 

lege  is  supported  by  the  Baptist  Home  Missionary 
Society. 

/The  Louisville  National  Medical  College  was  opened 
in  1888,  and  in  1897  had  49  graduates. 

The  Medical  Department  of  New  Orleans  Univer- 
sity was  organized  in  1889.  Twenty-seven  Negroes 
have  received  diplomas  from  this  department.  It  is 
under  the  care  of  the  same  society  as  Meharry  Medical 
College. 

The  Medical  Department  of  Knoxville  College  was 
opened  in  November,  1895. 

There  are  about  one  thousand  colored  physicians  in 
the  United  States,  of  which  number  Nashville  has 
twenty-three. 

The  first  female  student  in  the  world  who  received 
a  diploma  in  law  was  Miss  C.  B.  Ray,  a  colored  lady 
of  New  York  city.  She  graduated  at  Howard  Univer- 
sity, Washington,  D.  C. 

Doctor  Hubbard  bears  testimony  to  the  fact  that  the 
colored  physicians  are  kindly  received  by  all  the  best 
Southern  white  physicians.  The  white  physicians  find 
the  colored  practice  is  not  desirable,  and  since  such 
institutions  as  Meharry  are  able  to  come  up  to  the 
standard,  they  are  welcomed  by  the  profession.  The 
colored  physicians  undergo  the  same  examinations  as 
the  whites. 

Three  counties  in  Tennessee  —  Fayette,  Hay  wood 
and  Shelby — have  more  colored  persons  than  white. 

The  colored  scholastic  population  of  Tennessee  is 
176,614,  while  the  daily  attendance  will  average 
105,458. 

According  to  the  latest  census  report',  there  are 
3,115  deaf  and  dumb  and  7,060  blind  Afro- Americans 
in  this  country. 

44  Progress 


690 


PROGRESS   OF   A    RACE. 


The  Bureau  of  Education  furnishes  the  following- 
suggestive  table : 

SIXTEEN    FORMER    SLAVE    STATES   AND    THE    DIS- 
TRICT   OF   COLUMBIA. 


Year. 

Com.  School. 
White. 

Enrollment. 
Colored. 

Expenditures. 
(Both  R^ces.) 

1876-77  

1,827,139 

571,506 

$11,  271,  077 

1877-78 

2  O74  04.6 

675  I5O 

12  OQ3  OQl 

1878-70 

2  017,684 

685  04.2 

12  174.  141 

1879-80   

2  215,674 

784,  7OO 

12  678  685 

1  880-81  .  .    . 

2,274,877 

802,774 

jo  6^6.814 

1881-82  

2,240,263 

802,982 

15,241,740 

1882-83  

2,77O,IIO 

817,240 

16,36^.471 

1883-84  

2,546,448 

,OO2,  717 

17,884,558 

1884-85  

2,676,911 

,070,467 

19,253,874 

1885-86  

2,777,145 

,048,650 

20,208,113 

1886-87   

2  Q75  777 

,118  556 

20  821  060 

1887-88  

3,IIO,6o6 

,140,405 

21,810,158 

1888-89  

7  io7  870 

,217,002 

27,171,878 

1889-90  

7  4O2  42O 

,206,Q5Q 

24,880,107 

1890-91  

7  570,624 

,72Q,54Q 

26,690  310 

1891-92  

a  6O7,  540 

.754,716 

27,691,488 

1892-93  

7  6Q7,8oQ 

,367,515 

28,535,738 

1893-94  

3,335,593 

,424,995 

29,170,351 

Total  amount  expended  ii 

i  1  8  vears. 

$751,557,559 

CRIME,  PAUPERISM,  AND  BENEVOLENCE. 

The  following  is  taken  from  the  census  report  of 
1890.*  It  is  interesting  to  compare  the  numbers  of 
the  different  races: 


Prison- 
ers. 

Juvenile 
Offend- 
ers. 

Paupers. 

Inmates 
of 
Benevo- 
lent Insti- 
tutions. 

Insane 
Paupers. 

Total. 

White 

C7  710 

12  OO7 

66  ??8 

1  06  836 

CC  OC7 

298  680 

Negroes  
Indians  .... 

24,277 
•322 

i-t»y»-'j 
*>930 

12 

6,418 
•26 

4,102 

O2  7 

3,601 
28 

40,328 

I  721 

Chinese..  .   . 

4O7 

I 

T-3 

41 

l84 

646 

Japanese  .  . 

J-3 

8 

21 

Total  

82.120 

14  846 

7-3  odC 

III  OIO 

t;8866 

74O  006 

*Census  report  for  1900  not  complete  at  time  of  revision,  January,  1902. 


STATISTICS  OF  THE   RACE. 


691 


COMMON  SCHOOL  STATISTICS  CLASSIFIED  BY 

RACE— 1894-95. 

Enrolled  in  the  public  Schools  of  sixteen  Southern  States  and 
District  of  Columbia. 


White. 

Colored. 

No.  of  Teachers. 

White. 

Colored 

Alabama 

100,305 
216,863 
28,316 
26,903 
59.503 
262,530 
394,508 
92,613 
161,252 
162,830 
612,378 
242,572 
103,729 
381,632 
463,888 

235,533 
210,059 

3,845,414 

"5,709 
82,429 

4,857 
14,654 
37,272 
174,152 
73,463 
63,313 
43,492 
187,785 
32,199 
128,318 
119,292 
101,524 
134,720 
120,453 
7,649 

1,441,282 

4,412 
5,124 

734 
660 

2,151 

5,827 
8,578 
2,506 
3,797 
4.591 
13,750 
5,285 
2,696 
6,928 
9,960 

6,211 

6,066 
89,276 

2,196 
1,796 
106 
331 

772 
3,206 
1,373 
915 
716 
3,264 
737 
3,075 
1,869 
1,909 
2,502 
2,081 
233 

27,081 

Arkansas  

Delaware  

Dist.of  Columbia. 

Florida  

Georgia  

Kentucky  

Louisiana  

Maryland  

Mississippi  

Missouri  

North  Carolina  

South  Carolina  

Tennessee  

Texas  

Virginia.  ... 

West  Virginia.  . 

Total  

There  are  1,441,282  Afro-American  children  in  the 
public  schools  of  the  sixteen  Southern  states.  This 
is  an  encouraging  showing.  A  generation  ago 
it  was  a  penitentiary  offense  in  all  the  South  to  educate 
an  Afro- American. 

SCHOOLS    FOR    THE    EDUCATION    OF    THE    COLORED    RACE. 

The  following  are  the  latest  statistics  of  schools  for 
the  education  of  the  colored  race  taken  from  the 
report  of  the  Commissioner  of  Education  for  the  year 
1895.  Since  many  of  them  are  controlled  by  churches 
we  give  them  under  the  heads  of  the  different  churches 
supporting  and  controlling  them. 

We  give  the  institution,  its  location,  and  the  number 
of  students  in  each. 


692  PROGRESS    OF   A   RACE. 

BAPTISTS. 

Students. 

Selma  University,  Selma,  Alabama 218 

Arkansas  Baptist  College,  Little  Rock,  Ark 390 

Arkadelphia  Academy,  Arkadelphia,  Ark 106 

Wayland  Seminary,  Washington,  D.  C 161 

Florida  Institute,  Live  Oak,  Fla 165 

Jerual  Academy,  Athens,  Ga 250 

Atlanta  Baptist  Seminary,  Atlanta,  Ga 141 

Spelman  Ladies'  Seminary,  Atlanta,  Ga 630 

Walker  Baptist  Institute,  Augusta,  Ga 190 

La  Grange  Academy,  La  Grange,  Ga 425 

Leland  University,  New  Orleans,  La 157 

Jackson  College,  Jackson,  Miss 1 50 

Shaw  University,  Raleigh,  N.  C 362 

Shiloh  University,  Warrenton,  N.  C 60 

Water's  Normal  Institute,  Winston,  N.  C 215 

Benedict  College,  Columbia,  S.  C 135 

Roger  Williams  University,  Nashville,  Tenn 224 

Hearne  Academy  and  Normal  and  Industrial  School,  Hearne, 

Tex 76 

Bishop  College,  Marshall,  Tex 360 

Richmond  Theological  Seminary,  Richmond,  Va 185 

Curry  College,  Longfield,  Va 95 

Hartshorn  Memorial  College,  Richmond,  Va in 

Storer's  College,  Harpers  Ferry,  W.  Va 143 

Total  number  of  students  in  Baptist  Schools 4556 

METHODIST  EPISCOPAL. 

Central  Alabama  Academy,  Huntsville,  Ala 130 

Philander  Smith  College,  Little  Rock,  Ark 312 

Shorter  University,  Arkadelphia,  Ark 82 

Cookman  Institute,  Jacksonville,  Fla 269 

Emerson  Home  for  Ladies,  Oklahoma,  Fla 50 

Payne  Institute,  Augusta,  Ga 250 

Gammon  School  of  Theology,  Atlanta,  Ga 86 

Clark  University,  So.  Atlanta,  Ga 341 

Gilbert  Academy,  and  Industrial  College,  Baldwin,  La 170 

New  Orleans  University,  New  Orleans,  La 603 

Morgan  College,  Baltimore,  Md 93 

Rush  University,  Holly  Springs,  Miss 230 

Samuel  Huston  College,  Austin,  Texas 200 


STATISTICS   OF  THE  RACE. 

Students. 

Meridian  Academy,  Meridian,  Miss 169 

G.  R.  Smith  College,  Sedalia,  Mo 200 

Bennett  College,  Greensboro,  N.  C 203 

Browning  Industrial  Home,  Camden,  S.  C 150 

Allen  University,  Columbia,  S.  C 375 

Morristown  Normal  Academy,  Morristown,  Tenn. 3^ 

Central  Tennessee  College,  Nashville,  Tenn.,  Including  Me- 
harry  Medical  College,  the  number  in  attendance  at  this 

school  for  1900  and  1901 775 

Wiley  University,  Marshall,  Tex 284 

Total  number  of  students  in  Methodist  Episcopal  Schools,  5084 

UNITED   PRESBYTERIAN. 

Knoxville  College,  Knoxville,  Tenn 312 

Norfolk  Mission  College,  Norfolk,  Va 600 

Total  number  of  students  enrolled  in  United  Presby- 
terian Schools 912 

EPISCOPAL. 

St.  Paul  Normal  and  Industrial  School,  Lawrenceville,  Va..  256 
Bishop  Payne's  Divinity  and  Industrial  School,  Petersburg, 
Va 8 

Total  number  of  students  in  Episcopal  Schools 264 

AFRICAN  METHODIST  EPISCOPAL. 

Edward  Walter's  College,  Jackson,  Miss 159 

Morris  Brown  College,  Atlanta,  Ga 484 

Wilberforce  University,  Wilberforce,  O 305 

Paul  Quinn  College,  Waco,  Tex 125 

Total  number  of  students  in  A.  M.  E.  Schools 1073 

CHRISTIAN. 

Christian  Bible  School,  Louisville,  Ky 26 

Southern  Christian  Institute,  Edwards,  Miss 95 

Franklinton  Christian  College,  Franklinton,  N.  C 140 

Total  number  of  students  in  Christian  Schools 261 

A.  M.  E.  ZION. 
Livingston  College,  Salisbury,  N.  C 340 


694  PROGRESS   OF  A  RACE. 

PRESBYTERIAN.  Students. 

Stillman  Institute,  Tuscaloosa,  Ala 30 

Hayne's  Normal  and  Industrial  School,  Augusta,  Ga 495 

Biddle  University,  Charlotte,  N.  C 260 

Scolia  Seminary  for  Ladies,  Concord,  N.  C 284 

Albion  Academy,  and  Normal  School,  Franklinton,  N.  C . . .  350 

Lincoln  University,  Pennsylvania 196 

Harbison  University,  Beaufort,  S.  C 105 

Brainard  Institute,  Chester,  S.  C 151 

Ingleside  Ladies'  Seminary,  Burkeville,  Va no 

Total  number  of  students  in  Presbyterian  Schools 1942 

FRIENDS. 

Southland  College,  Southland,  Ark 179 

Freedman's  Normal  Institute,  Maryville,  Tenn 201 

Total  number  of  students  in  Friends'  Schools 380 

ROMAN    CATHOLIC. 

St.  Augustin  Ladies'  Academy,  Lebanon,  Ky 76 

Mt.  Carmel  Convent,  New  Liberia (no  report.) 

CONGREGATIONALISTS. 

Trinity  Normal  Schools,  Athena,  Ala 268 

Lincoln  Normal  Schools,  Marion,  Ala 230 

Burrell  College,  Selma,  Ala 276 

Talladega  College,  Talladega,  Ala 581 

Orange  Park  Normal  and  Manual  Training  School,  Orange 

Park,  Fla 101 

Knox  Institute,  Athens,  Ga 244 

Storr's  College,  Atlanta,  Ga , 272 

Dorchester  Academy,  Mclntosh,  Ga 393 

Ballard  Normal  School,  Macon,  Ga 443 

Allen  Normal  and  Industrial  School,  Thomasville,  Ga 185 

Chandler  Ladies'  Normal  School,  Lexington,  Ky . . 245 

Straight  University,  New  Orleans,  La 569 

Tougaloo  University,  Tougaloo,  Miss 377 

Lincoln  Academy,  King's  Mountain,  N.  C 198 

Gregory  Normal  Institute,  Wilmington,  N.C 360 

Avery  Normal  Institute,  Charleston,  S.  C 410 

Brewer  Normal  School,  Greenwood,  S.  C 375 

Warren  Institute,  Jonesboro,  Tenn. , , 113 


STATISTICS   OF  THE   RACK.  695 

Students. 

Fisk  University,  Nashville,  Tenn 459 

Tillotson  College,  Austin,  Tex. 193 

Total  number  of  students  in  Congregationalist  Schools. .  6148 

NON-SECTARIAN. 

Calhoun  Colored  School,  Calhoun,  Ala 251 

State  Normal  School,  Montgomery,  Ala 975 

State  Normal  and  Industrial  School,  Normal,  Ala 476 

Tuskegee  Normal  and  Industrial  Institute,  Tuskegee,  Ala. .  1231 

Arkansas  Normal  College,  Pine  Bluff,  Ark 255 

State  College  for  Colored  Students,  Dover,  Del 61 

Howard  University,  Washington,  D.  C 587 

Normal  School,  Washington,  D.  C 26 

High  School,  Washington,  D.  C 737 

State  Normal  and  Industrial  School,  Tallahassee,  Fla 58 

Georgia  State  Industrial  College,  College,  Ga 500 

Beech  Institute,  Savannah,  Ga (no  record) 

Atlanta  University,  Atlanta,  Ga 300 

Haven  Normal  Academy,  Waynesboro,  Ga 272 

Roswell  Public  School,  Roswell,  Ga 289 

West  Broad  Street  School,  Athens,  Ga 457 

Sumner  High  School,  Cairo,  111 28 

Governor  High  School,  Evansville,  Ind 65 

Scribner  High  School,  New  Albany,  Ind 189 

Berea  College,  Berea,  Ky 200 

State  Normal  School,  Frankfort,  Ky 126 

Central  High  School,  Louisville,  Ky 996 

Paris  Colored  High  School,  Paris,  Ky 336 

Southern  University,  New  Orleans,  La 308 

Alexandria  Academy,  Alexandria,  La (no  report) 

Baltimore  City  High  School,  Baltimore,  Md 140 

Baltimore  Normal  School,  Hebbville,  Md 50 

Industrial  Home  for  Girls,  Melvale,  Md 160 

Princess  Anne  Academy,  Princess  Anne,  Md 67 

Mount  Hermon  Female  Seminary,  Clinton,  Miss 76 

State  Colored  Normal  School,  Holly  Springs,  Miss 190 

Alcorn  Agricultural  School  and  Medical  College,  West  Side, 

Miss 305 

Douglas  High  School,  Hannibal,  Mo , 45 

Lincoln  Institute,  Je# erson  City,  MQ,  ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,  345 


696  PROGRESS  OF  A   RACE. 

Students. 

Lincoln  High  School,  Kansas  City,  Mo 100 

Hale's  College,  Mill  Springs,  Mo 73 

Colored  Normal  and  Industrial  Schools,  Bordentown,  N.  J . .  109 

Ashboro  Normal  School,  Ashboro,  N.  C 190 

Washburn  Seminary,  Beaufort,  N.  C 161 

Clinton  Normal  School,  Clinton,  N.  C 75 

State  Colored  Normal  School,  Elizabeth  City,  N.  C 1 1 1 

State  Colored  Normal  School,  Fayetteville,  N.  C 85 

State  Colored  Norman  School,  Franklintown,  N.  C 256 

State  Colored  Normal  School,  Goldsboro,  N.  C 105 

Agricultural  and  Mechanic  College,  for  the  colored  race, 

Greensboro,  N.  C 187 

Whitin  Normal  School,  Lumberton,  N.  C 81 

Barrett  Collegiate  and  Industrial  Institute,  Pee  Dee,  N.  C. .  180 

State  Colored  Normal  School,  Plymouth,  N.  C 180 

City  High  School,  Reedsville,  N.C 811 

State  Colored  Normal  School,  Salisbury,  N.  C 101 

Rankin-Richards  Institute,  Windsor,  N.  C no 

Scofield  Normal  and  Industrial  School,  Aikin,  S.  C 223 

Wallingford  Academy,  Charleston,  S.  C 221 

Claflin  University,  Orangeburg,  S.  C 570 

Beaufort  Academy,  Beaufort,  S.  C 388 

Penn  Industrial  and  Normal  School,  Frogmore,  S.  C 276 

Austin  High  School,  Knoxville,  Tenn 307 

Hannibal  Medical  College,  Memphis,  Tenn 7 

LeMoyne  Normal  Institute,  Memphis,  Tenn 620 

Meig's  High  School,  Nashville,  Tenn 584 

Bradley  Academy,  Murphysboro,  Tenn 425 

Mary  Allen  Seminary,  for  Ladies,  Crockett,  Tenn 232 

Central  High  School,  Galveston.Tex 250 

Prairie  View  Normal  Institute,  Prairie  View,  Tex 207 

East  End  High  School,  Brenham,  Tex 448 

Hampton  Normal  Institute,  Hampton,  Va 1017 

Public  High  School,  Manchester,  Va 50 

Peabody  School,  Petersburg,  Va 715 

Virginia  Normal  and  Collegiate  Institute,  Petersburg,  Va. .  331 

West  Virginia  Colored  Institute,  Farm,  Va 78 

Manassas  Industrial  School,  Manassas,  Va. 6j 


STATISTICS  OF  THE  RACE. 


697 


The  following  table,  abstracted  from  the  census  pub- 
lications, shows  the  number  of  Negroes  in  all  occupa- 
tions and  in  each  of  the  five  groups  of  occupations  by 
sex  and  by  states  and  territories  in  1890:* 


STATES  OB  TERRITORY. 

All  Occu- 
pations. 

Agricultural, 
Fisheries  and 
Mining. 

Professional 
Service. 

Males. 

Females. 

Males. 

Females. 

Males. 

Females. 

The  United  States. 

2,101,233 

971,890 

1,329,584 

427,835 

25,171 

8,829 

Alabama 

192,322 

1,091 
86,861 
4,301 
2,765 
4,064 
9,334 
21,238 
46,302 
246,913 
83 
19,270 
14,648 
3,615 
13,889 
76,411 
159,180 
409 
63,lt6 
7,593 
5,065 
1,719 
198,531 
43,940 
971 
3,741 
130 
242 
16,143 
888 
23,272 
148,370 
146 
28,085 
958 
536 
37,534 
2,337 
186,714 
284 
121,016 
123,395 
298 
322 
169,343 
902 
11,478 
855 
563 

101,085 

71 
30,115 
1,041 
792 
1,964 
3,016 
18,770 
19,071 
122,352 

4,713 
4,210 
730 
3,400 
31,255 
83,978 
145 
32,642 
8,435 
1,329 
883 
105,306 
16,715 
140 
959 
22 
107 
7,738 
156 
13,664 
68,220 
23 
7,791 
125 
99 
15,704 
1,362 
102,836 
43 
44,701 
46,691 
51 
109 
71,752 
153 
2,623 
205 
75 

146,361 

29 
68,219 
1,084 
180 
879 
4,157 
553 
23,690 
172,496 
16 
4,328 
8,273 
973 
4,171 
38.456 
111,820 
104 
29,516 
601 
1,458 
72 
167,995 
15,757 
41 
242 
41 
60 
4,166 
163 
3,031 
106,498 
35 
6,201 
635 
106 
4,602 
270 
149,915 
83 
72,316 
85,824 
21 
112 
93,745 
250 
4,790 
168 
141 

66,123 

19,069 

4 

1 
34 
15 
7,629 
54,073 

134 
37 
11 

110 
1,013 
49,428 
2 
743 
4 
45 

77,925 
324 

3 

1 

29 
3 
25 
83,796 

108 
17 

2 
29 
2 

73,588 

12,510 
20,758 

1 
10,164 
2 
50 
4 

1,471 

3 

1,226 
86 
75 
61 
97 
390 
776 
2,122 

486 
330 
78 
857 
1,406 
1,251 

640 
162 
115 
57 
1,970 
897 
25 
63 

287 
10 
571 
1,619 
7 
617 
22 
23 
584 
38 
1,543 

1,736 
2,031 

3 
1,654 
16 
166 
27 
58 

491 

288 
21 
13 
10 
82 
835 
223 
958 

116 
126 
11 
69 
420 
855 
2 
275 
57 
89 
18 
775 
887 
4 
7 

82 

135 
565 

246 

a 

5 
197 
18 
506 
2 
592 
663 

Oil 
2 
63 
11 
1 

Alaska  

Arizona      ... 

Arkansas  

California     .... 

Colorado    

Connecticut 

Delaware  

District  of  Columbia  .... 
Florida        ..             .... 

Georgia  . 

Idaho 

Illinois  

Indiana        . 

Kansas                           . 

Louisiana.        .       .... 

Maryland 

Michigan       •  

Montana  

Nebraska 

Nevada  

New  Hampshire. 

New  Jersey  

New  Mexico. 

New  York  

North  Carolina 

North  Dakota 

Ohio 

Oklahoma  

Oregon         

Rhode  Island  

South  Carolina  

South  Dakota 

Tennessee  

Texas       . 

Utah    

Vermont           

Virginia 

Washington  

West  Virginia 

Wisconsin  

Wyoming  .  .   

*Census  report  for  1900  pot  complete  at  time  of  revision,  January,  1902. 


PROGRESS   OF  A   RACE. 


Table  showing  the  number  of  Negroes  in  all  occu- 
pations, etc. — Continued- 


STATE  OB  TEBHITOBY. 

Domestic  or  Per- 
sonal Service. 

Trade  and 
Transportation. 

Manufacturing 
and   Mechanical 
Industries. 

Males. 

Females. 

Males. 

Females. 

Males. 

Females. 

The  United  States 

457,426 

505,898 

143,850 

2,899 

146,126 

26,929 

Alabama 

25,426 

1,084 
11,223 
2,316 
1,702 
1,925 
8,681 
12,880 
13,299 
89,294 
57 
10,865 
7,950 
1,966 
6,898 
22,649 
81,609 
174 
21,014 
4,296 
2,495 
li286 
17,209 
18,899 
815 
2,743 
67 
81 
7,715 
651 
13,151 
20,580 
90 
14,814 
281 
328 
22,505 
1,161 
18,554 
115 
25,606 
28,360 
248 
143 
39,425 
480 
8,515 
481 
313 

30,380 

67 
10,506 
897 
715 
1,781 
2,878 
16,734 
10,421 
65,025 
21 
4,061 
3,849 
672 
3,077 
28,916 
31,292 
128 
30,406 
2,914 
1.102 
815 
25,729 
15,614 
'122 
881 
18 
84 
.  7,839 
150 
12,445 
31,393 
22 
6,955 
102 
81 
14,297 
1,169 
26.213 
35 
30,333 
24,840 
48 
102 
55,941 
134 
2,462 
161 
71 

9,147 

13 
2,787 
457 
406 
634 
633 
4,776 
4,106 
16,397 

1,994 
1,426 
289 
1,148 
7,881 
6,045 
68 
7,538 
1,402 
448 
216 
5671 
4,862 
45 
323 
17 
24 
2,111 
40 
4,231 
7,564 
10 
3,027 

1 

5,213 
546 
6,860 
121 
10,954 
6,3* 

83 
15.655 

3,080 
31 

140 

27 
3 
5 
7 
21 
195 
52 
872 

41 
23 
1 
20 
66 
129 
2 
144 
34 
6 
5 
74 
44 
1 
4 
1 

25 

54 

106 

40 
1 
1 

104 
3 
188 
1 
125 
69 
1 

253 

7 
1 
3 

9,917 

12 
3,403 
858 
402 
565 
816 
2,839 
4,501 
16,604 
2 
1,602 
1,669 
309 
1,315 
6,519 
8,455 
55 
4,458 
1,132 
549 
88 
5,686 
3,525 
45 
370 
5 
72 
1,864 
24 
2,288 
12,114 
4 
3,426 
42 
87 
4,630 
822 
9,842 
14 
10,404 
5,7* 

31 

18,864 
87 
927 
105 
20 

951 

4 
275 
106 
55 
165 
51 
1,490 
746 
1,924 

361 
175 
35 
124 
840 
4774 

1,074 
426 
137 
48 
803 
896 
13 
64 
2 
23 
263 
3 
1,005 
2,360 

442 
2 
10 
1,077 
170 
2,341 

1,141 
4tfl 
2 
6 
4,483 
15 
41 
88 

Alaska  

Arizona. 

Arkansas  

California 

Colorado  

Connecticut 

District  of  Columbia  
Florida 

Georgia  . 

Idaho 

Indiana.. 

Kansas   

Louisiana  

Maine  

Maryland  

Massachusetts 

Michigan.                    

Minnesota 

Mississippi  

Missouri. 

Montana  

Nebraska  

Nevada 

New  Hampshire  

New  Jersey       .  .  . 

New  York 

North  Carolina-  

North  Dakota  

Ohio 

Oklahoma  

Oregon  

Pennsylvania. 

Rhode  Island.  

South  Carolina.. 

South  Dakota  

Tennessee 

Texas 

Utah     

Vermont 

Virginia  

Washington 

West  Virginia 

Wisconsin  

Wyoming.           . 

STATISTICS    OF    THE    RACE. 


699 


WHITE   AND     NEGRO     POPULATION    BY    COUNTIES 
OF  THE  SOUTHERN  STATES,  LAST  CENSUS,  1900. 


ALABAMA. 

Counties.                  White.  Negro. 

1  Autauga   6,742  11,173 

2  Baldwin 9,016  4,179 

3  Barbour    12,781  22,371 

4  Bibb  12,285  6,213 

5  Blount  21,338  1,781 

6  Bullock   5,846  26,097 

7  Butler    12,514  13,246 

8  Calhoun    ....24,247  10,626 

9  Chambers  .  ..15,145  17,415 

10  Cherokee    . . .  18,080  3,016 

11  Chilton    13,258  3,264 

12  Choctaw   ....  7,858  10,277 

13  Clarke   11,952  15,829 

14  Clay    15,215  1,884 

15  Clebourne  ...12,325  871 

16  Coffee    16,739  4,233 

17  Colbert   12,795  9,546 

18  Conecuh    ....  9,722  7,793 

19  Coosa    10,856  5,288 

20  Covington    ..12,912  2,434 

21  Crenshaw   ...14,057  5,601 

22  Cullman    17,827  21 

23  Dale    16,320  4,869 

24  Dallas    9,285  45,372 

25  DeKalb 22,586  972 

26  Elmore    14,051  6,051 

27  Escambia   . . .  7,683  3,515 

28  Etowah  23,000  4,366 

29  Fayette    12,431  1,701 

30  Franklin   ....  14,353  2,158 

31  Geneva    15,878  2,218 

32  Greene 3,307  20,875 

33  Hale  5,664  25,347 

34  Henry   22,543  13,604 

35  Jackson  26,860  3,642 


Counties.                  White.  Negro 

36  Jefferson  83,489  56,917 

37  Lamar 13,015  3,069 

38  Lauderdale  ..19,169  7,390 

39  Lawrence  ...12,967  7,156 

40  Lee 12,759  1,967 

41  Limestone    ..12,558  9,828 

42  Lowndes    . . .  4,762  30,889 

43  Macon 4,252  19,875 

44  Madison   23,827  29,473 

45  Marengo  ....  8,841  29,473 

46  Marion  13,716  778 

47  Marshall  ....21,789  1,500 

48  Mobile 34,306  28,409 

49  Monroe 10,529  13,116 

50  Montgomery  19,825  52,207 

51  Morgan 21,439  7,378 

52  Perry  6,821  24,962 

53  Pickens 10,481  13,921 

54  Pike   10,697  12,474 

55  Randolph   ...16,469  5,178 

56  Russell    5,930  21,152 

57  St.  Clair 16,003  3,442 

58  Shelby 16,680  7,014 

59  Sumter 5,672  27,038 

60  Talladega   . . .  17,547  18,223 

61  Tallapoosa  . .  18,987  10,688 

62  Tuscaloosa  .  .21,509  14,638 

63  Walker    21,046  4,116 

64  Washington  .  6,106  5,028 

65  Wilcox    6,979  28,652 

66  Winston   ....  9,547  7 

ARKANSAS. 

1  Arkansas    . . .  8,915  4,058 

2  Ashley 9,135  10,509 

3  Baxter    9,293  5 

4  Benton   3M99  na 


700 


PROGRESS   OF    A    RACE. 


Counties. 

White. 

Negro. 

5  Boone    

16,254 

142 

6  Bradley 

6,311 

3,340 

7  Calhoun 

5,254 

3,285 

8  Carroll 

19,682 

166 

9  Chicot  

1,876 

12,650 

10  Clark   

14,022 

7,267 

1  1  Clay   

15,877 

9 

12  Clebourne    .  . 

9,6i7 

ii 

13  Cleveland     .  . 

8,106 

3,514 

14  Columbia   .  .  . 

12,610 

9,467 

15  Conway   

11,150 

7,627 

16  Craighead    .  . 

18,302 

1,203 

17  Crawford    .  .  . 

19,045 

2,224 

18  Crittenden  .  .. 

2,239 

12,290 

19  Cross  

6,188 

4,873 

20  Dallas    

6,935 

4,583 

21  Desha    

2,104 

9,405 

22  Drew    

9,162 

10,289 

23  Foulkner  

16,338 

4,440 

24  Franklin   /.  .  . 

16,808 

587 

25  Fulton  

12,838 

79 

26  Garland  

15,096 

3,674 

27  Grant  

6,825 

846 

28  Greene    

16,898 

81 

29  Hemstead  .  .  . 

12,111 

ii,990 

30  Hot  Springs. 

11,263 

1,485 

31  Howard  

10,978 

3,098 

32  Indep'dence  . 

21,074 

1,483 

33  Izard    

13,221 

285 

34  Jackson  

13,090 

5,290 

35  Jefferson  

11,146 

29,812 

36  Johnson 

16,828 

619 

37  Lafayette 

4,108 

6,486 

38  Lawrence   .  .  . 

15,439 

1,051 

39  Lee   

4,303 

15,105 

40  Lincoln    

4,938 

8,45i 

41  Little  Rock  . 

7,982 

5,749 

42  Logan    

19,784 

779 

43  Lonoke  

13,250 

9,294 

Counties.                  White.  Negro. 

44  Madison  ....  19,820  44 

45  Marion    n,339  38 

46  Miller  9,935  7,6i9 

47  Mississippi  . .  8,061  8,321 

48  Monroe 5,822  10,995 

49  Montgomery.  9,125  319 

50  Nevada   10,776  5,833 

51  Newton 12,531  7 

52  Ouachita 9,257  11,634 

53  Perry    6,484  810 

54  Phillips   5,677  20,577 

55  Pike  9,705  596 

56  Poinsett    . . . .  5,994  1,031 

57  Polk 18,175  177 

58  Pope    19,850  1,865 

59  Prairie 7,684  4,191 

60  Pulaski    34,040  29,116 

61  Randolph  ...16,550  606 

62  St.    Francis..  6,152  11,005 

63  Saline    11,202  1,920 

64  Scott    13,079  102 

65  Searcy   n,972  16 

66  Sebastian  32,476  4,407 

67  Sevier 14,292  2,041 

68  Sharp 12,987  212 

69  Stone 8,021  79 

70  Union  ...  — 12,775  9,720 

71  Van    Buren.  .10,894  326 

72  Washington  .33,367  888 

73  White 22,208  2,656 

74  Woodruff  . . .  6,357  9,947 

75  Yell  20,080  1,670 

DELAWARE. 

1  Kent 25,017  7,738 

2  New  Castle  -93,456  16,197 

3  Sussex 35,504  6,762 

DISTRICT  OF  COLUMBIA 

I  Dist.  of  €01.191,532  86,702 


STATISTICS    OF    THE    RACE. 


701 


Co 

I 

2 

3 
4 
5 
6 

7 
8 

9 

10 

ii 

12 

13 
14 

15 

16 

17 
18 

19 
20 

21 
22 

23 
24 

25 
26 

2? 
28 

29 

30 
3i 
32 
33 
34 
35 
36 
37 
38 

FLORIDA. 

unties.                  White. 
Alachua  ..     .T?27o 

Negro. 
18,965 
1,191 
2,727 
1,074 
2,040 
2,637 
1,832 
9,32i 
1,293 
672 
22,417 

n,925 
2,242 
9,856 
5.376 
1,815 
8,449 
1,281 
12,276 
12,620 
763 
2,631 
188 

15,999 
3,282 

i,497 
8,904 
458 
15,047 
5,788 
5,092 
4,027 
43i 
1,679 

2,943 
5,621 
3,621 
2,466 

Co 
39 
40 

41 
42 
43 
44 
45 

i 

2 

3 
4 
5 
6 

7 
8 

9 
10 
ii 

12 
13 
14 
15 

16 

17 
18 

19 

20 
21 
22 
23 
24 
25 
26 

27 
28 
29 
30 

3J 

unties. 
Sumter 

White. 

o  OO7 

Negro. 
2,280 

6,577 
438 
3,464 
2,790 
2,039 
2,886 

3,513 
4,770 
11,256 
2,097 
6,187 
5,937 
27,384 
10,904 
3,153 
5,i64 
24,645 
6,807 
6,825 
5,242 
3,i68 
5,036 
482 
743 
41,257 
3,938 
2,238 
1,285 
9,476 
5,703 
4,026 
3,590 
7,328 
6,611 
3,602 

7,753 
14,220 

Suwanee   .  .  . 

.  .7  077 

Baker    

.  3,  325 

Taylor    

.   3,361 

Bradford    . 
Brevard    .  . 
Calhoun 

..  7,568 
..  4,003 

'j  OO2 

Volusia   .  .   . 

.   6538 

Wakulla    ... 
Walton 

•  2,359 

.    7  707 

Citrus    .... 

2  754 

Washington  .  7,468 
GEORGIA. 
Aoolincr  .  .      -  8821 

Clay 

?  go"? 

Columbia   . 
Dade 

••  7,773 

-j  548 

Baker 

I  Q34 

De  Soto  .  . 
Duval  

•  •  7,374 
.  .17  276 

Baldwin    .  .  . 
Banks    

.    6,511 
.    8,448 

Escambia   . 
Franklin   .  . 
Gadsden  .  . 
Hamilton   . 
Hernando  . 
Hillsboro   . 
Holmes  .  .  . 

-.16,384 
..  2,648 
...  5,438 
..  6,505 
..    1,823 
..27,528 
.  6481 

Bartow    .... 

.  14,635 

Berrien   .  .    . 

.  1  7,  4Q4 

Bibb  

.23,078 

Brooks 

7  7O2 

Bryan    

.    2  060 

Bullock     ... 
Burke     . 

.12,213 

5  450 

Jackson 

II    O87 

Butts 

5008 

Jefferson  .  . 
Lafayette    . 
Lake  

•  •  3,575 
..  4,224 
.  4820 

Calhoun    ... 
Camden    .  .  . 
Campbell    .  . 
Carroll 

•  2,309 

.  2,423 

.  6,350 

21  5  TO 

Lee 

2  77.7 

Leon    

.    3886 

Catoosa 

534 

Lew 

5?27 

Charlton  .  .  . 
Chatham    .  . 
Chattah'chee 
Chattooga  .  . 
Cherokee  .  .. 
Clarke   

.    2,849 
•26,314 
•1,852 
.10,714 
.13,958 
.    823O 

Liberty  .  . 

I  450 

Madison   .  . 
Manatee   .  . 
Marion    .  .  . 

..  6,542 

.  .  4,105 

.  o  356 

Monroe  .  .  . 

.  .12,192 

Nassau  .... 

.   4  550 

Clay 

2865 

Orange 

7  "347 

Clayton 

5  5IO 

Osceola    .  . 
Pasco    .... 

•  •    3,013 
.   4,375 

Clinch 

5  142 

Cobb    

.17,7-14 

Polk   

.    0  523 

Coffee    

.    Q  528 

Putnam  .  .  . 

.    6  OI7 

Colquitt    .  .  . 
Columbia   .  . 
Coweta   

.10,034 
.    2,900 

.10,759 

St.  John  .  .  . 
Santa  Rosa 

•  •  5,540 
•  7,827 

702 


PROGRESS   OF    A   RACE. 


Counties 

White. 

Negro. 

32  Crawford    .  . 

•  4,550 

5,8i8 

33  Dade   

.  4,140 

438 

34  Dawson 

•  5,271 

171 

35  Decatur  

.13,676 

15,778 

36  DeKalb 

14,068 

7,044 

37  Dodge    

,.  8,270 

5,705 

38  Dooly 

.11,883 

14,684 

39  Dougherty 

•  2,451 

11,228 

40  Douglas    .  .  . 

.  6,590 

2,155 

41  Early   

.  5,863 

8,905 

42  Echols 

,  2,218 

991 

43  Effingham    . 

•  4,630 

3,704 

44  Elbert    

•  9,936 

9,792 

45  Emanuel    .  . 

.12,873 

8,406 

46  Fannin  

.  10,918 

296 

47  Fayette   

•  6,553 

3,56i 

48  Floyd 

.21,633 

11,476 

49  Forsyth 

10,467 

1,083 

50  Franklin  .  .  . 

•13,406 

4,204 

51  Fulton    

.72,591 

45,717 

52  Gilmer  

.10,121 

77 

53  Glascock    .  . 

.  3,ooi 

1,515 

54  Glynn    

.    5,202 

9,104 

55  Gordon 

.12,488 

1,631 

56  Greene    

.  5,325 

11,217 

57  Gwinnett  .  .  . 

.21,442 

4,043 

58  Habersham  . 

.11,812 

1,792 

59  Hall  

.17,480 

3,272 

60  Hancock  .  .  . 

.  4,649 

13,628 

61  Haralson    .  . 

.  10,280 

1,639 

62  Harris  

.  5,823 

12,186 

63  Hart 

.  10,467 

4,025 

64  Heard  

.  7,163 

4,on 

65  Henry   

.  9,213 

9,389 

66  Houston  .  .  . 

.  5,635 

17,006 

67  Irwin   

8,960 

4,680 

68  Jackson  .  .  ,  , 

.16,433 

7,606 

69  Jasper    

.  5,388 

9,645 

70  Jefferson    .  . 

.  6,534 

n,578 

Counties.                 White.  Negro, 

71  Johnson 6,878  4,531 

72  Jones  3,878  5,447 

73  Laurens 14,569  1 1,338 

74  Lee    1,507  8,837 

75  Liberty     ....  4,479  8,614 

76  Lincoln 1,883  4,273 

77  Lowndes    ...  9,347  6,143 

78  Lumpkin    . . .  6,951  482 

79  McDuffie    . . .  3,661  10,688 

80  Mclntosh  ...   1,456  5,079 

81  Macon 4,202  9,791 

82  Madison   9,339  3,885 

83  Marion    4,231  5,849 

84  Meriwether   .  9,522  13,817 

85  Miller    3,611  2,708 

86  Milton 6,000  763 

87  Mitchell    ....  6,778  7,989 

88  Monroe 6,817  13,865 

89  Montgomery    9,653  6,706 

90  Morgan 5,207  10,606 

91  Murray  8,102  521 

92  Muscogee    ..14,229  15,577 

93  Newton    8,589  8,144 

94  Oconee  4,189  4,413 

95  Oglethorpe    .  5,638  12,243 

96  Paulding    ...11,624  1,345 

97  Pickens 8,226  415 

98  Pierce   5,917  2,184 

99  Pike     9,158  9,599 

100  Polk    12,937  4,9X6 

101  Pulaski 7,460  11,029 

102  Putnam   3,379  10,057 

103  Quitman  1,258  3,447 

104  Rabun  ..  6,104  181 

105  Randolph    ...  5,550  11,297 

106  Richmond   ...27,439  26,255 

107  Rockdale  ....  4,419  3,090 

108  Schley  .......  1,916  3,583 

109  Screven   8,306  10,946 


STATISTICS   OF    THE    RACE. 


703 


Counties.  White. 

1 10  Spalding  ...  8,465 
in  Stewart   ....  4,019 

112  Sumter    7,399 

113  Talbot   3,658 

114  Taliaferro  . .  2,391 

115  Tattnall  . . .  .13,306 

116  Taylor  4,820 

117  Telfair   5,957 

118  Terrell     5,674 

119  Thomas  ....13,626 

120  Towns  4,677 

121  Troup    8,668 

122  Twiggs    ....  2,911 

123  Union 8,353 

124  Upson   :  6,189 

125  Walker 13,197 

126  Walton  12,601 

127  Ware 8,652 

128  Warren    ....  3,842 

129  Washington    10,805 

130  Wayne   7,222 

131  Webster  ....  2,504 

132  White  5,312 

133  Whitfield  ...12,683 

134  Wilcox 6,893 

135  Wilkes  6,423 

136  Wilkinson   . .  5,409 

137  Worth    10,252 

KENTUCKY. 

1  Adair  13,294 

2  Allen    13,559 

3  Anderson   . . .  9,057 

4  Ballard    9,259 

5  Barren 19,410 

6  Bath 13,042 

7  Bell    13,947 

8  Boone   10,360 

9  Bourbon     ...11,276 
10  Boyd 18,051 


Negro. 

9J54 

n,837 

18,813 

8,439 

5,521 

6,113 

5,026 

4,126 

13,349 

17,450 

71 

15,332 

5,805 

128 

7,48i 

2,464 

8,341 
5J09 
7,621 

17,422 
2,227 
4,114 
600 
1,821 
4,204 

14,442 
6,031 
8,412 

i,594 
1,098 

1,054 
1,502 
3,788 
1,692 

i,754 
810 

6,792 
771 


Counties. 

11  Boyle    

12  Bracken    

13  Breathitt 

14  Breckinridge 

15  Bullitt    

16  Butler    

17  Caldwell 

18  Galloway    . . . 

19  Campbell    . . . 

20  Carlisle 

21  Carroll   

22  Carter    

23  Casey    

24  Christian  .  . . 

25  Clark   

26  Clay   

27  Clinton    .... 

28  Crittenden    . 

29  Cumberland 

30  Daviess    . . . 

31  Edmonson   . 

32  Elliott    

33  Estill    

34  Fayette    .  . .-. 

35  Fleming    . .. 

36  Floyd    

37  Franklin   . . . 

38  Fulton    .... 

39  Gallatin  .... 

40  Garrard  .... 

41  Grant 

42  Graves   

43  Grayson    . . . 

44  Green  

45  Greenup    . . . 

46  Hancock   . .. 

47  Hardin    .... 

48  Harlan   

49  Harrison     . . 


White. 

9,036 
11,565 
14,023 
18,438 
85,108 
I5J7I 
n,735 
i6,375 
53,643 

9,557 

9,021 

20,085 
14,740 
21,365 
n,5i7 
14,800 

7,691 
14,315 

8,040 

33,i3i 

9,628 

10,385 

11,446 

27,660 

15,489 

.15,416 

16,501 

8,706 

4,598 

9,096 

12,812 

.29,857 

19,450 

10,516 

15,160 

8,270 

,20,866 

.  9,612 

,16,148 


Negro. 

4,78l 

572 

299 

2,096 

1,094 

725 

2,775 

1,258 

58o 

638 

804 

143 

504 

16,697 

5,177 
564 
175 
876 
922 

5,554 
452 

2 

223 

15,409 

1,585 

136 

4,348 

2,838 

565 

2,946 

427 

2,345 
428 

1,739 
272 

644 
2,071 

*a6 
2,421 


704 


PROGRESS   OF    A    RACE. 


Counties.                  White.  Negro. 

50  Hart    16,190  2,220 

51  Henderson  .  .24,101  8,804 

52  Henry   12,690  1,930 

53  Hickman  —  9,622  2,123 

54  Hopkins   25,877  5,118 

55  Jackson 10,542  19 

56  Jefferson  . . .  188,630  43,916 

57  Jessamine  . . .  8,576  3,349 

58  Johnson    13,729  i 

59  Kenton    60,292  3,582 

60  Knox 16,618  754 

61  Knott 8,535  169 

62  Larue 9,982  782 

63  Lawrence  . . .  19,427  185 

64  Lee 7,717  271 

65  Leslie    6,638  75 

66  Lewis    17,703  175 

67  Lincoln 13, 547  3,512 

68  Letcher 9,126  46 

69  Livingston  . .  10,576  778 

70  Logan   19,256  6,738 

71  Lyon    7,387  1,932 

72  McCracken    .21,479  7,283 

73  McLean    ....11,574  774 

74  Madison   18,917  6,690 

75  Magoffin    ...11,785  136 

76  Marion    13,479  2,811 

77  Marshall    . . .  13,344  348 

78  Martin 5,765  15 

79  Mason    16,678  3,768 

80  Meade    9,643  890 

81  Menifee 6,777  41 

82  Mercer    11,958  2,868 

83  Metcalfe 8,989  999 

84  Monroe    12,371  684 

85  Montgomery    9,349  2,483 

86  Morgan 12,739  53 

87  Muhlenberg  .18,584  2,157 

88  Nelson  13,145  3,442 


Counties.                  White.  Negro. 

89  Nicholas    ....10,623  1,332 

90  Ohio  23,894  1,393 

91  Oldham 5,458  1,620 

92  Owen 16,083  1,470 

93  Owsley    6,801  73 

94  Pendleton  . . .  14,459  588 

95  Perry     8,115  161 

96  Pike  22,496  190 

97  Powell    6,068  375 

98  Pulaski    29,957  1,336 

99  Robertson  ...  4,772  128 

100  Rockcastle  ..  12,259  157 

101  Rowan    8,223  54 

102  Russell 9,401  274 

103  Scott   13,014  5,062 

104  Shelby    13,642  4,698 

105  Simpson   9,074  2,550 

106  Spencer  6,155  1,250 

107  Taylor  5,432  1,643 

1 08  Todd    11,202  6,169 

109  Trigg    10,576  3,497 

no  Trimble  7,071  201 

in  Union    18,213  3,113 

112  Warren   22,978  6,992 

113  Washington.  12,283  1,899 

114  Wayne   14,281  608 

115  Webster   ....17,708  2,389 

116  Woodford  ....  8,415  4,719 

117  Whitley    24,246  769 

1 18  Wolfe    8,667  97 

LOUISIANA. 

1  Acadia 18,662  4,820 

2  Ascension  .  . .  2,048  12,081 

3  Assumption  .12,189  9,438 

4  Avoyelles   ...17,762  11,891 

5  Bienville 9,348  8,230 

6  Bossier   5,262  18,890 

7  Caddo    ......  13,826  30,662 

8  Calcasieu 24,267  5,966 


STATISTICS  OF   THE  RACE. 


705 


Counties. 

White. 

Negro. 

9 

Caldwell   .... 

3,841 

3,076 

10 

Cameron   — 

3,375 

577 

ii 

Catahoula    .  . 

9,5i8 

6,793 

12 

Claiborne   .  .  . 

9,202 

13,828 

13 

Concordia  .  .  . 

I,7H 

11,845 

M 

De  Soto  .... 

8,150 

16,903 

15 

East  Baton 

Rouge  .... 

10,562 

20,578 

16 

East  Carroll. 

959 

10,412 

17 

EastFeliciana  5,570 

14,871 

18 

Franklin   

3,870 

5,020 

IQ 

Grant  

O  2.V7 

3665 

*  :/ 
20 

Iberia    

v>**o/ 
14,729 

O>WVj'O 

14282 

21 

Iberville    

T^/  **y 

9,842 

*H>    w 

7,159 

22 

Jackson   

C  QIC 

-3  2O4 

23 

Jefferson  

O»V  *•  D 

8,979 

o>  ^^t 
6,279 

24 

Lafayette    .  . 

13,309 

9,5i6 

25 

Lafourche  .  .  . 

20,626 

9,5i6 

26 

Lincoln  

QT7Q 

6,  75Q 

27 

Livingston  .  . 

y>  *  Ozr 

9,139 

>/  o^ 

1,144 

28 

Madison   .... 

899 

11,422 

29 

Morehouse    . 

3,9H 

12,722 

30 

Natchitoches 

13,662 

19,544 

31 

Orleans  208,946 

77,714 

32 

Ouachita   — 

7,847 

13,098 

33 

Plaquemines 

.5,762 

7,276 

34 

Ponite  Cou- 

nee 

6,60  1 

IO  I7J. 

1C 

Rapides     .  .    . 

18,320 

•••y,1/^ 
21,210 

oo 

36 

Red  River  .. 

4,077 

7,471 

37 

Richland    .  .  . 

3,222 

7,892 

38 

Sabine  

12,418 

•5  OO2 

Ow 

39 

St.  Bernard  . 

2,832 

,J,W*r 
2,197 

40 

St.  Charles  ,  . 

2,970 

6,102 

4i 

St.  Helena  .. 

3,896 

4,583 

42 

St.  James  .  .  . 

8,839 

11,356 

43 

St.   John  the 

Baptist  .... 

5,145 

7,184 

44 

St.  Landry  .  . 

25,170 

26,658 

45  Progress 

Counties.                 White.  Negro. 

45  St.  Martin  ...10,051  8,883 

46  St.   Mary   . . .  13,789  20,264 

47  St.  Tammany  8,415  4,889 

48  Tangipahoa  .12,248  5,375 

49  Tensas 1,291  17,839 

50  Terrebonne   .14,142  10,312 

51  Union    n,553  6,967 

52  Vermilion  ...16,957  3,747 

53  Vernon   9,048  1,279 

54  Washington  .  6,846  2,776 

55  Webster   6,863  5,262 

56  West  Baton 

Rouge 2,351  7,934 

57  West  Carroll.   1,556  2,128 

58  West  Feliciana2,2i3  13,781 

59  Winn   7,067  1,319 

MARYLAND. 

1  Allegany    52,019  1,669 

2  Anne  Arundel24,236  15,367 

3  Baltimore    ..79,123  11,618 

4  Bait.  City  ..429,218  79,258 

5  Calvert    5,080  5,143 

6  Caroline   12,009  4,237 

7  Carroll  31,71?  2,143 

8  Cecil 20,850  3,805 

9  Charles    8,014  9,648 

10  Dorchester  ..18,476  9,584 

11  Frederick  ...45,905  6,012 

12  Garrett    17,575  126 

13  Harford  22,411  5,854 

14  Howard    12,309  4,405 

15  Kent  11,343  7,442 

16  Montgomery  20,393  10,054 

17  Prince 

George    ...17,910  11,985 

18  Queen  Anne.i  1,991  6,372 

19  St.  Mary 8,928  8,256 

20  Somerset    ...16,387  9,533 

21  Talbot  12,875  7,466 


706 


PROGRESS    OF    A    RACE. 


Counties.  White. 

22  Washington  .42,642 

23  Wicomico    ..17,023 

24  Worcester  .  ..13,992 

MISSISSIPPI. 

1  Adams 6,439 

2  Alcorn   7,407 

3  Amite 8,400 

4  Attala    13,875 

5  Benton    5,310 

6  Bolivar   4,197 

7  Calhoun    12,415 

8  Carroll   9,197 

9  Chickasaw    . .  8,148 

10  Choctaw   9,451 

11  Claiborne  . . .  4,565 

12  Clarke  9,245 

13  Clay   ...  5,927 

14  Coahoma  —  3,o8i 

15  Copiah    16,355 

16  Covington    . .  8,471 

17  De  Soto 6,233 

18  Franklin    ....  6,883 

19  Greene    4,94* 

20  Grenada  3,828 

21  Hancock   8,356 

22  Harrison   — 14,632 

23  Hinds    .  .13,037 


24  Holmes 

25  Issaquena 

26  Itawamba 

27  Jackson    -_, 

28  Jasper    7, 

29  Jefferson 4, 

30  Jones  13,156 

31  Kemper    8,669 

32  Lafayette    . . .  12,378 

33  Lauderdale    .19,190 

34  Lawrence  . . .  7,535 


8,120 
622 

12,202 
10,697 
,729 
4,020 


Negro. 
2,488 
5,828 
6,8ll 

23,668 
3,825 

12,308 

12,350 
5,200 

3IJ97 
4,197 

12,919 

n,744 

3,585 

16,213 

8,493 

13,633 

24,183 

18,036 

4,605 

18,513 

6,799 

i,778 

10,281 

3,469 

6,367 

39,53i 

28,707 

9,77i 

i,342 

5,8i5 

7,474 

17,270 

4,690 

n,645 

9,730 

i8,958 

7,568 


Counties.  White. 

35  Leake    io,747 

36  Lee    13,297 

37  Leflore  2,796 

38  Lincoln 12,341 

39  Lowndes 7,121 

40  Madison   6,574 

41  Marion    9,178 

42  Marshall   ....  8,966 

43  Monroe    12,555 

44  Montgomery      7,963 

45  Neshoba  9,874 

46  Newton    11,659 

47  Noxubee    . . .  4,699 

48  Oktibbeha    .  .  6,363 

49  Panola    9,661 

50  Pearl  River  .  4,904 

51  Perry    9,808 

52  Pike    13,829 

53  Pontotoc 13,447 

54  Prentiss  12,657 

55  Quitman 1,258 

56  Rankin  8,679 

57  Scott    8,107 

58  Sharkey 1,449 

59  Simpson    7,846 

60  Smith     10,695 

61  Sunflower    . .  4,006 

62  Tallahatchie      6,308 

63  Tate  8,439 

64  Tippah   10,080 

65  Tishomingo  .   9,073 

66  Tunica    i,559 

67  Union    12,380 

68  Warren   10,346 

69  Washington      5,002 

70  Wayne   .  . 7,481 

71  Webster    9,694 

72  Wilkinson  . . .  4,384 


Negro. 

6,231 

8,658 
21,031 

9,209 
21,972 
25,918 

4,323 
18,708 
18,656 

8,573 
2,279 

7,6i4 
26,146 

13,819 
19,366 

i,79i 
4,822 

13,713 
4,827 


4,177 
12,269 

6,065 
10,723 

4,954 

2,360 
12,070 
13,281 
12,179 

2,903 

1,051 
I4-9H 

4,142 

30,554 

44J43 

5,058 

3,926 

17,069 


STATISTICS   OF   THE    RACE. 


707 


Counties.  White. 

73  Winston  8,192 

74  Yalobusha   . .  9,284 

75  Yazoo   n,743 

MISSOURI. 

1  Adair    21,412 

2  Andrew    17,112 

3  Atchison  ....  18,470 

4  Audrain 19,534 

5  Barry    25,523 

6  Barton 18,205 

7  Bates    29,834 

8  Benton  16,366 

9  Bellinger    . . .  14,636 

10  Boone   24,028 

11  Buchanan  ..115,322 

12  Butler    15,241 

13  Caldwell 16,226 

14  Callaway  .  . .  .21,880 

15  Camden  13,028 

16  Cape  Girard- 

eau 22,327 

17  Carroll    25,123 

18  Carter 6,702 

19  Cass  23,044 

20  Cedar   16,878 

21  Chariton  . . .  .22,980 

22  Christian 16,822 

23  Clark   15,233 

24  Clay  17,784 

25  Clinton    16,290 

26  Cole   18,317 

27  Cooper    18,999 

28  Crawford    ...12,911 

29  Dade    17,831 

30  Dallas  13,892 

31  Daviess  20,994 

32  DeKalb   14,291 

33  Dent  12,958 

34  Douglas   16,775 


Negro.  Counties.                 White.  "Negro. 

5,901       35  Dunklin  21,500  205 

10,458  36  Franklin   ....28,756  1,825 

32,002  37  Gasconade   . .  12,230  68 

38  Gentry   20,558  16 

316      39  Greene  49,4i8  3,298 

220      40  Grundy    17,600  232 

31  41  Harrison   ....24,347  45 

1,627      42  Henry   '.26,962  1,092 

9  43  Hickory    ....  9,984  I 

48      44  Holt    i6,945  137 

307      45  Howard    14,155  4,182 

190      46  Howell  21,612  222 

14      47  Iron   8,458  248 

4,564  48  Jackson    ...176,053  19,044 

6,509      49  Jasper    82,576  1,428 

1,524  50  Jefferson    ...23,593  1,119 

430      51  Johnson    26,128  1,710 

4,104      52Knox.. 13,105  175 

95      53  Laclede 16,159  364 

54  Lafayette    . . .  28,002  2,677 

1,987  55  Lawrence  ...31,379  285 

i,332      56  Lewis   15,680  1,043 

4      57  Lincoln  16,621  1,731 

592      58  Linn   24,727  786 

45  59  Livingston     .21,507  795 
3,246  60  McDonald   ..13,560  2 

117      61  Macon    31,438  1,570 

142      62  Madison   9,732  242 

1,115      63  Maries    9,615  I 

1,170      64  Marion    22,974  3,35° 

2,259      65  Mercer    14,448  58 

3,505      66  Miller 14,995  190 

46  67  Mississippi  . .  9,572  2,265 
294  68  Moniteau    . . .  15,223  706 

ii      69  Monroe 18,108  1,608 

329  70  Montgomery  15,260  1,411 

127      71  Morgan   u,737  438 

28  72  New  Madrid    9,253  2,027 

27  73  Newton    ....26,280  699 


708 


PROGRESS   OF    A   RACE. 


Counties.       -          White.  Negro. 

74  Nodaway    ...32,809  129 

75  Oregon 13,899  7 

76  Osage 13,822  274 

77  Ozark    12,119  26 

78  Pemiscot    ...11,253  862 

79  Perry    14,694  44O 

80  Pettis     29,541  2,897 

81  Phelps  14,009  184 

82  Pike    21,503  4,239 

83  Platte   15,098  1,095 

84  Polk 23,070  185 

85  Pulaski    10,357  37 

86  Putnam 16,670  16 

87  Rails    11,360  927 

88  Randolph  ...21,600  2,842 

89  Ray    23,197  1,608 

oo  Reynolds    ...  8,161  o 

91  Ripley    13,185  I 

92  St.    Charles.  .22,432  2,139 

93  St.  Clair 17,645  260 

94  St.  Genevieve  9,885  474 

95  St.  Francois.. 23, 440  611 

96  St.  Louis   ...46,511  32,516 

97  St.  Louis 

City 539,385  35,5i6 

98  Saline  28,939  4,761 

99  Schuyler  ....  10,840  o 

100  Scotland   13,056  80 

101  Scott    12,587  305 

102  Shannon  ....11,241  4 

103  Shelby  15,488  679 

104  Stoddard   .  ...24,622  47 

105  Stone  9,888  4 

106  Sullivan    — 20,168  no 

107  Taney    10,105  2 

108  Texas    22,187  3 

109  Vernon 31,378  241 

no  Warren    .....  9,297  614 

in  Washington   13,622  641 


Counties.  White.    Negro- 

112  Wayne    15,194 

113  Webster 16,524 

114  Worth  9,824 

115  Wright    . . .  .16,204 
NORTH  CAROLINA. 

1  Alamance    . . .  18,939 

2  Alexander    ..10,104 

3  Alleghany    ..  7,293 

4  Anson    10,196 

5  Ashe    18,897 

6  Beaufort  . . .  .15,066 

7  Bertie    8,717 

8  Balden   9,452 

9  Brunswick  ...  7,613 
10  Buncombe   .  .36,167 
n  Burke    15,023 

12  Cabarrus  ....  16,355 

13  Caldwell    . ..  .13,751 

14  Camden 3,263 

15  Carteret    9,684 

16  Caswell    6,829 

17  Catavvba 19,148 

18  Chatham  . . ,  .15,573 

19  Cherokee    ..  .11,391 

20  Chowan    ....  4,406 

21  Clay    4,398 

22  Cleveland  ...20,258 

23  Columbus  . . .  14,541 

24  Craven   9,613 

25  Cumberland  .16,677 

26  Currituck   . . .  4,752 

27  Dare  4,183 

28  Davidson    ...20,229 


29  Davie    9,476 

30  Duplin   13,877 

31  Durham    16,483 

32  Edgecombe   .10,004 

33  Forsyth 24,718 

34  Franklin   ....  12,678 


116 

8 

428 


6,723 
856 
466 

11,674 
684 

11,821 
8,223 
5,044 

8,120 

2,676 

6,101 

2,191 

2,127 

8,199 

2,985 

8,339 

432 

5,850 

134 

4,821 

6,476 

14.543 


i,777 
574 
3,174 
2,635 
8,528 

9,740 
16,584 


12,438 


STATISTICS   OF    THE   RACE. 


709 


Counties.  White. 

35  Gaston  20,661 

36  Gates  5,609 

37  Graham   4,190 

38  Granville    ...11,376 

39  Greene  6,260 

40  Guilford    27,069 

41  Halifax   11,060 

42  Harnett 10,930 

43  Haywood    ...15,609 

44  Henderson  . .  12,345 

45  Hertford   ....  5,995 

46  Hyde   5,264 

47  Iredell    21,732 

48  Jackson    10,922 

49  Johnston    . .  .24,079 

50  Jones    4,466 

51  Lenoir 10,592 

52  Lincoln    12,537 

53  McDowell    .  .10,673 

54  Macon    n,43i 

55  Madison  20,086 

56  Martin  8,056 

57  Mecklenburg. 3 1, 393 

58  Mitchell    ....14,685 

59  Montgomery  10,515 

60  Moore    15,773 

61  Nash    14,856 

62  NewHanover  12,663 

63  Northampton  9,031 

64  Onslow     ....  4,330 

65  Orange    9,429 

66  Pamlico    5,408 

67  Pasquotank   .  6,630 

68  Fender  6,472 

69  Perquimans  ..  5,088 

70  Person    9,654 

71  Pitt   15,397 

72  Polk 5,797' 

73  Randolph  .  ..24,560 


Negro. 

Counties. 

White. 

Negro. 

7,242 

74  Richmond  .  . 

.  8,092 

7,763 

4,804 

75  Robeson  .  .  . 

.19,577 

16,917 

26 

76  Rockingham 

21,544 

11,617 

11,887 

77  Rowan   

.22,948 

8,115 

5,778 

78  Rutherford  . 

.  20,649 

4,441 

11,103 

79  Sampson     .  . 

.17,250 

9,130 

19,733 

80  Scotland    .  .  . 

•  5,709 

6,7IO 

^  o;8 

81  Stanly 

I  -2  421 

I  700 

J>V^O*-' 

613 

82  Stokes    

*    AO»£T       * 

.16,875 

A  9/  ;ry 

2,991 

i,559 

83  Surry    

.  22,6O9 

2,904 

8,39i 

84  Swain    

•    7,352 

174 

4,014 

85  Transylvania 

6,005 

615 

7,332 

86  Tyrrell 

3,518 

1,462 

591 

87  Union    .  . 

10  1^7 

7  QQQ 

8,171 

88  Vance    

•  *;/j  *  J/ 

•  6,929 

/  ^y^y 

9755 

7,760 

89  Wake 

70  267 

24  7^8 

o?/ 

8,045 

90  Warren   

•  O*-','*'vy/ 

.    6,082 

^*T»OOU 

13,009 

2,961 

91  Washington 

•   5,242 

5,366 

i,893 

92  Watauga    .  .. 

•  13,026 

391 

673 

07  Wayne   . 

l8,074 

I  7,4IO 

551 

94  Wilkes 

.  J.WjW^)fc|t 

24  47* 

*O>"    3* 

2  4^7 

7,327 

95  Wilson    .... 

•  ^''r'HOO 

1-1,601 

•*^T"O/ 

9,905 

23,873 

96  Yadkin    .... 

.    A^jWV^  j. 

.12,895 

:7)y**fO 

1,187 

536 

97  Yancey  

TT.T8T 

287 

3,682 

SOUTH  CAROLINA. 

7,849 

i  Abbeville    .  . 

.11,340 

22,069 

10,619 

2  Aiken    

.17,378 

21,640 

13,109 

3  Anderson   .  . 

.•32,232 

23,496 

12,112 

4  Bamberg   .  .. 

..5,658 

11,638 

3,6io 

5  Barnwell    .  .. 

.  10,088 

25,416 

5,261 

6  Beaufort    .  .  . 

•  3,349 

32,137 

2,637 

7  Berkeley    .  . 

.  6,481 

23,973 

7,027 

8  Charleston  . 

•  27,647 

60,312 

6,909 

9  Cherokee   .  . 

.  13,962 

7,396 

5,003 

10  Chester    .... 

.  9,244 

19,372 

7,023 

ii  Chesterfield 

.12,256 

8,145 

15,492 

12  Clarendon    . 

.  8,033 

20,151 

1,207 

13  Colleton   .  .  . 

.11,187 

22,265 

3,672 

14  Darlington  , 

.13,083 

I9>304 

710 


PROGRESS   OF    A    RACE. 


Counties.                 White.  Negro. 

15  Dorchester    .  6,202  10,089 

16  Edgefield    ...  7,147  18,131 

17  Fairfield   ....  7,052  22,375 

18  Florence 11,819  16,654 

19  Georgetown      5,336  19,507 

20  Greenville  ...33,999  19,488 

21  Greenwood  ..  9,437  18,906 

22  Hampton   . . .  8,236  15,502 

23  Horry    17,042  6,320 

24  Kershaw 10,002  14,693 

25  Lancaster  ...12,201  12,110 

26  Laurens    15,205  22,177 

27  Lexington   . .  16,961  10,303 

28  Marion    16,992  18,160 

29  Marlboro   ...11,226  16,413 

30  Newberry  ...10,261  19,831 

31  Oconee  i7,53O  6,104 

32  Orangeburg  .18,220  41,412 

33  Pickens 14,574  4,8oi 

34  Richland    17,513  28,070 

35  Saluda  8,819  10,147 

36  Spartanburg  .44,391  21,167 

37  Sumter    12,881  38,353 

38  Union    io,943  14,558 

39  Williamsb'g  .11,818  19,867 

40  York    19,784  21,839 

TENNESSEE. 

1  Anderson   ...16,516  1,118 

2  Bedford   7,577  6,268 

3  Benton    11,348  540 

4  Bledsoe    6,151  475 

5  Blount    17,591  1,607 

6  Bradley    13,672  2,085 

7  Campbell    . . .  16,701  616 

8  Cannon  11,266  1,827 

9  Carroll  18,669  5,58i 

10  Carter   16,026  661 

11  Cheatham    . .  8,450  1,662 

12  Chester 7,870  2,026 


Counties.                 White.  Negro 

13  Qaiborne    ..19,967  729 

14  Clay   8,053  368 

15  Cocke    17,892  1,261 

16  Coffee    I3<772  1,802 

17  Crockett  ....11,821  4,046 

18  Cumberland      7,739  574 

19  Davidson    ...78,888  43,902 

20  Decatur   9,219  1,220 

21  DeKalb 15,349  1,108 

22  Dickson  15,716  2,919 

23  Dyer  18,034  5,742 

24  Fayette    8,019  21,682 

25  Fentress   ....  6,081  25 

26  Franklin  16,953  3,439 

27  Gibson 29,095  10,313 

28  Giles    21,629  11,406 

29  Grainger  ....  14,862  650 

30  Greene  29,027  1,569 

31  Grundy   7,487  315 

32  Hamblen    . . .  10,916  1,791 

33  Hamilton    ...42,184  19,490 

34  Hancock 12,874  273 

35  Hardeman   ..12,771  10,205 

36  Hardin    16,568  2,678 

37  Hawkins 22,113  2,154 

38  Hay  wood  ...  8,109  19,080 

39  Henderson    .15,480  2,637 

40  Henry   15,480  5,999 

41  Hickman 13,756  1,056 

42  Houston   ....  5,420  1,575 

43  Humphreys  ..  9,883  470 

44  Jackson    4,901  506 

45  Jefferson   ....16,416  2,174 

46  James   4,901  506 

47  Johnson    ....10,221  368 

48  Knox 62,525  n,777 

49  Lake  5,384  1,084 

50  Lauderdale  .  .11,802  10,169 

51  Lawrence  .,,14,43$  9^7 


STATISTICS    OF    THE    RACE. 


711 


Counties.  White. 

52  Lewis   4,063 

53  Lincoln 20,220 

54  London 9,47i 

55  McMinn   17,165 

56  McNairy   .  ...15,118 

57  Macon 12,007 

58  Madison   19,572 

59  Marion    15,176 

60  Marshall    14,503 

61  Maury    24,539 

62  Meigs     6,828 

63  Monroe   17,355 

64  Montgomery  19,852 

65  Moore  5,237 

66  Morgan  8,987 

67  Obion   23,444 

68  Overton    13,072 

69  Perry 8,135 

70  Pickett    5,355 

71  Polk    11,054 

72  Putnam 16,122 

73  Rhea 12,440 

74  Roane   20,111 

75  Robertson    ..18,207 

76  Rutherford  ..20,572 

77  Scott    10,742 

78  Sequatchie  .. .  2,289 

79  Sevier    21,456 

80  Shelby    ......68,754 

81  Smith 16,018 

82  Stewart 12,932 

83  Sullivan 23,370 

84  Sumner 19,394 

85  Tipton 15,307 

86  Trousdale  . . .  3,971 

87  Unicoi 5,721 

88  Union 12,815 

89  Van  Buren  ..  3,071 

90  Warren  ,,.,,I4»33$ 


Negro. 

Counties. 

White. 

Negro. 

392 

91  Washington 

.20,456 

2,147 

6,084 

92  Wayne  

.11,792 

1,144 

1,360 

93  Weakley   .  .  . 

.28,318 

4,228 

1,997 

94  White  

.13,133 

1,024 

2,442 

95  Williamson 

.16,765 

9,664 

874 

96  Wilson  

.  19,820 

7,256 

i6,754 

TEXAS. 

2,105 

i  Anderson  .  . 

•  i6,399 

11,615 

4,260 

2  Andrews  .  .  . 

.        87 

o 

19,164 

3  Angelina    .  . 

•  11,324 

2,156 

663 

4  Aransas    .... 

.   1,527 

189 

1,222 

5  Archer   

.  2,496 

2 

16,158 

6  Armstrong  . 

.   1,203 

2 

469 

7  Atascosa   .  .. 

.  6,856 

277 

600 

8  Austin  

•  14,483 

6,193 

4,840 

9  Bailey  

4 

O 

273 

10  Bandera  — 

•  5,233 

89 

665 

ii  Bastrop    .... 

•  i6,473 

10,369 

II 

12  Baylor  

.  3,035 

17 

303 

13  Bee    

.  7,244 

476 

768 

14  Bell    

.41,712 

3,812 

1,878 

15  Bexar  

60,861 

8,530 

2,625 

16  Blanco   

.  4-479 

224 

6,822 

17  Borden  .... 

•      774 

2 

12,965 

18  Bosque    .... 

•  i6,545 

845 

335 

19  Bowie  

.  i6,477 

10,199 

37 

20  Brazoria    .  .  . 

.  6,642 

8,219 

565 

21  Brazos  

.  10,008 

8,845 

84,773 

22  Brewster  ..  . 

•  2,275 

80 

3,oo8 

23  Briscoe   .... 

.  i,253 

0 

2,352 

24  Brown    .... 

..15,818 

206 

1,565 

25  Burleson    ... 

.10,044 

8,323 

6,677 

26  Burnet  

10,264 

264 

13,965 

27  Caldwell   .  .  . 

.16,075 

5,687 

2,033 

28  Calhoun  .... 

.  2,124 

2.71 

130 

29  Callahan  .... 

.  8,743 

25 

79 

30  Cameron   .  .. 

.I5,9i8 

177 

55 

31  Camp  

•  4,892 

4>354 

2>o74 

32  Carson  ,,,, 

..     467 

3 

712 


PROGRESS   OF    A   RACE. 


Co 
33 
34 
35 
36 
37 
38 
39 
40 
4i 
42 

43 
44 

45 
46 
47 
48 
49 
50 
5i 
52 
53 
54 
55 
56 
57 
58 
59 
60 
61 
62 

63 
64 
65 
66 

67 
68 

69 
70 
71 

unties. 
Cass  

White. 
.15  n^i 

Negro. 
8,908 

0 

828 
8,196 

I 

44 
o 

2 
00 

2,456 

2 

9,633 
259 
0 

14 
1,875 

570 
o 

0 

8 
3 

0 

13,646 

0 

I 

967 

2,067 
4,940 
o 
4i 
49 
ii 

5i 
3 
II 
8,441 
620 
579 
11,985 

Co 
72 
73 
74 
75 
76 
77 
78 
79 
80 
81 
82 
83 
84 
85 
86 

87 
88 
89 
90 
9i 
92 
93 
94 
95 
96 
97 
98 
99 

100 
101 
102 
103 
104 
105 

106 
107 
108 
109 
HO 

unties. 
Fannin 

White. 
.  .45  ^28 

Negro. 
5,465 
io,394 
3 
8 
o 
10,814 
829 
8,302 
163 
o 

8,708 

2 

105 
i 
i,  800 
8,642 
13 
7,742 
6,898 
14,327 
5,i87 
3 
o 

7 
i 

18 
948 
19,894 
21,697 
i 
5 
2,134 

2 

4,347 
no 

2,978 

0 

241 

3,8o§ 

Castro  

400 

Fayette   .. 
Fisher  .   . 

.  .  .26,248 
.    1  705 

Chambers  .  . 
Cherokee   .  . 
Childress    .. 
Clay  . 

.   2,217 
•16,953 

-   2,135 
.   O.I76 

Floyd    .  .  . 

.  .  .   2,012 

Foard 

I  568 

Fort  Bend 
Franklin  . 
Freestone 
Frio   

-   5,724 

...  7,745 
...10,608 
.  4,0^7 

Cochran    .  .  . 
Coke  

•         25 
.   T  428 

Coleman  .  .  . 
Collin  .  .  . 

.  9,986 

A1  fY2O 

Gaines       . 

55 

Collingsworth  1,239 
Colorado    ...12,569 
Comal   -  6  *7^R 

Galveston 
Garza  .... 
Gillespie  . 

...35,250 
...       I83 
.  .8  \2\ 

Comanche  .. 
Concho   .... 

.23,009 

.    I  A2\ 

Glasscock 
Goliad     .  . 

...       285 
.   6  504 

Cooke    

.25,600 

Gonzales  . 
Gray 

...20,217 
467 

Coryell    . 

2O  7^8 

Cottle    

.    I  ,OO2 

Grayson  . 

55  QOO 

Crane  . 

er 

Gresrsr 

ft  A  AT) 

Crockett  ... 
Crosby  . 

•    1,583 

785 

Grimes      • 

.    II  770 

Guadalupe 
Hale   .   .  .  . 

..16,295 
I  676 

Dallam  

146 

Dallas   

,60,052 

Hall  

.    1  ,660 

Dawson  .... 

•37 

Hamilton  , 
Hansford  . 
Hardeman 
Hardin  .  .. 
Harris  .  .  .  . 

...13,507 

...     166 
.  ..  3,614 
.  4,101 
.,43846 

Deaf   Smith. 
Delta  

.       84I 
.    I  501 

Denton 

26  251 

De  Witt  .  .  . 
Dickens 

.16,368 
I  151 

Harrison   . 
Hartley  .. 

...10,174 
376 

Dimmit  .... 
Donley  .... 

.    1,065 
2  704 

Haskell 

2  6^2 

Duval  

.    8.471 

Hays 

..  12  OOO 

Eastland   ... 
Ector   

.l8,O09 
378 

Hamphill  . 
Henderson 
Hidalgo  .. 
Hill 

...     812 

...15,623 
...  6,727 

•jg  -378 

Edwards  .  .  . 
Ellis  

•    3,097 
.45,216 
.23,860 
•29,375 

•21.353 

El  Paso  .... 
Erath  

Hockley  . 
Hood 

....       44 

8  OO5 

Falls  

Hopkins  . 

,,,,24,143 

STATISTICS   OF   THE   RACE. 


Counties.  White, 

in  Houston   ...15,108 

112  Howard 2,437 

113  Hunt 42,945 

114  Hutchinson       305 

115  Iron  843 

116  Jack 10,108 

117  Jackson    —  3,904 

118  Jasper    5,142 

119  Jeff  Davis...   1,117 

120  Jefferson  . . .  10,290 

121  Johnson  — 32,670 

122  Jones   7,049 

123  Karnes  8,048 

124  Kaufman  ...27,281 

125  Kendall  ....  3,868 

126  Kent 899 

127  Kerr   4,832 

128  Kimble   2,497 

129  King    496 

130  Kinney   2,096 

131  Knox   4,322 

132  Lamar 37,605 

133  Lamb    31 

134  Lampasas   ..  8,253 

135  La  Salle 2,240 

136  Lavaca  23,184 

137  Lee 10,250 

138  Leon    n,i35 

139  Liberty 5,736 

140  Limestone   .26,218 

141  Lipscomb  ..      790 

142  Live  Oak 2,195 

143  Llnao   7,262 

144  Loving 33 

145  Lubbock  ...     293 

146  Lynn   17 

147  McCulloch  .  3,929 

148  McLennan  .45,345 

149  McMullen  ..     991 


Negro. 

Counties. 

White. 

Negro. 

10,342 

150 

Madison  .. 

.  7,974 

2,468 

86 

ISI 

Marion    .  .  . 

.  3,6o6 

7,147 

4,340 

152 

Martin   

•     330 

2 

0 

153 

Mason 

•  5,519 

54 

4 

154 

Matagorda 

.  2,306 

3,75i 

US 

155 

Maverick    . 

.  3,87i 

195 

2,189 

156 

Madina   .  .  . 

•  7,427 

356 

2,996 

157 

Menard  .  .  . 

.  1,971 

20 

42 

158 

Midland    .  . 

.  1,680 

56 

3,945 

159 

Milam 

•  29,193 

io,473 

1,145 

160 

Mills   

•  7,838 

13 

4 

161 

Mitchell  ... 

.  2,712 

140 

633 

162 

Montague  . 

•  24,774 

26 

6,092 

163 

M'ntg'mery 

10,448 

6,619 

235 

164 

Moore 

.     209 

o 

o 

165 

Morris 

.  4,878 

3,342 

148 

166 

Motley 

•   i,257 

o 

6 

167 

Nacogd'hes 

17,986 

6,677 

0 

168 

Navarro  ... 

.34,294 

9,072 

349 

169 

Newton  .  .  . 

.  4,797 

2,485 

o 

170 

Nolan 

•  2,591 

20 

11,007 

171 

Nueces    .  .  . 

.  9,844 

577 

0 

172 

Ochiltree    . 

.      267 

0 

370 

173 

Oldham   ... 

•      448 

i 

63 

174 

Orange  .  .  . 

.  4,887 

1,068 

4,890 

175 

Palo  Pinto. 

.n,993 

292 

4,343 

176 

Panola  .... 

.  12,200 

9,204 

6,937 

177 

Parker   .... 

.24,956 

865 

2,366 

178 

Farmer    .  .  . 

34 

o 

6,354 

179 

Pecos   

•  2,350 

22 

0 

180 

Polk 

.  9,3io 

4,849 

73 

181 

Potter      ,  ,  , 

1,802 

15 

39 

182 

Presidio  .  .. 

•  3,6i4 

53 

0 

183 

Rains  

•  5,588 

539 

0 

184 

Randall 

.     961 

i 

o 

185 

Red  River. 

.21,468 

8,422 

31 

1  86 

Reeves 

.   1,825 

12 

14,405 

187 

Refugio   .  .  . 

.  1,180 

46l 

33 

1  88 

Roberts   ... 

.     611 

9 

714 


PROGRESS    OF    A    RACE. 


Counties  White. 

189  Robertson   .14,707 

190  Rockwell  ...  8,129 

191  Runnels  —  5,346 

192  Rusk  15,055 

193  Sabine  4,642 

194  San  Aug'tine  5,513 

195  San  Jacinto.  4,720 

196  San  Patricio  2,336 

197  San  Saba.. .  7,496 

198  Schleicher  ..      502 

199  Scurry  4,157 

200  Shackelford    2,326 

201  Shelby 16,335 

202  Sherman  ...      101 

203  Smith   21,318 

204  Somervell  . .  3,492 

205  Starr 11,328 

206  Stephens   . ..  6,461 

207  Sterling   ....  1,125 

208  Stonewall   . .  2,183 

209  Sutton 1,722 

210  Swisher 1,227 

211  Tarrant  46,597 

212  Taylor  10,315 

213  Terry 48 

214  Throckm't'n.  1,748 

215  Titus  10,144 

216  Tom  Green.  5,896 

217  Travis    34,065 

218  Trinity   .....  8,163 

219  Tyler  9,5io 

220  Upshur   11,309 

221  Upton    48 

222  Uvalde  4,518 

223  Valverde  . . .  5,106 

224  Van  Zandt.. 24,115 

225  Victoria  ....  9,888 

226  Walker 7,492 

227  Waller 6,375 


Negro. 

Counties. 

White. 

Neero. 

16,747 

228  Ward   

1,448 

3 

402 

229  Washington 

16,888 

16,039 

33 

230  Webb   ,  , 

21,641 

205 

11,039 

231  Wharton  .  .  . 

8,223 

8,717 

1,752 

232  Wheeler    .  .  . 

622 

14 

2,921 

233  Wichita  

5,595 

204 

5,531 

234  Wilbarger  .. 

5,713 

43 

36 

235  Williamson. 

33,736 

4,332 

61 

236  Wilson  .... 

.12,847 

1,114 

13 

237  Winkler  .... 

60 

0 

0 

238  Wise  

26,947 

167 

134 

239  Wood  

17,036 

4,012 

4,ii7 

240  Yoakum    .  .  . 

26 

o 

3 

241  Young  

6,533 

7 

16,043 

242  Zapata    

4,76o 

0 

6 

243  Zavalla  

795 

I 

141 

VIRGINIA. 

5 

i  Accomac   

20,743 

11,825 

2 

2  Albemarle  ..  . 

18,050 

10,337 

O 

3  Alexandria  .  . 

3,963 

2,467 

5 

4  Alleghany   ... 

13,715 

4,013 

o 

5  Amelia   

3,052 

5,985 

5,756 

6  Amherst   .... 

10,807 

7,057 

178 

7  Appomattox. 

5,731 

3,93i 

o 

8  Augusta    .... 

26,670 

5,700 

2 

9  Bath  

4,589 

i,  006 

2,148 

10  Bedford   

20,617 

9,739 

898 

ii  Bland   

5,285 

212 

13,299 

12  Botetourt  .  .  . 

13,284 

3,977 

2,763 

13  Brunswick   .  . 

7,375 

10,842 

2,389 

14  Buchanan  .  .  . 

9,687 

5 

4,957 

15  Buckingham. 

7,415 

7,85i 

o 

16  Campbell    .  .  . 

13,641 

9,6i5 

129 

17  Caroline    

7,667 

9,042 

*56 

18  Carroll  

19,964 

339 

1,365 

19  Charles  City. 

1,344 

3,6g6 

3,787 

20  Charlotte    .  .  . 

6,798 

8,545 

8,319 

21  Chesterfield  . 

11,105 

7,699 

7^71 

22  Qarke  ,.,,,, 

S>6°5 

2,231 

STATISTICS   OF    THE    RACE. 


715 


Counties.  White. 

23  Craig   11,032 

24  Culpeper   —  8,069 

25  Cumberland  .  2,791 

26  Dickenson    . .  7,747 

27  Dinwiddie  ...  5,874 

28  Eliz'b'th  City.  10,757 

29  Essex   3,576 

30  Fairfax    13,576 

31  Fauquier 15,074 

32  Floyd   14,313 

33  Fluvanna  ....  5,039 

34  Franklin   20,005 

35  Frederick  . . .  12,486 

36  Giles   9,994 

37  Gloucester  . .  6,222 

38  Goochland   . .  3,961 

39  Grayson 15,894 

40  Greene  4,783 

41  Greenesville  .  3,402 

42  Halifax   11,922 

43  Hanover 9,696 

44  Henrico  17,246 

45  Henry   10,881 

46  Highland   . . .  5,269 

47  Isle  of  Wight  6,833 

48  James   City..   1,346 

49  King  &  Qu'n  4,006 

50  King  George.  3,696 

51  King  Will'm.  3,276 

52  Lancaster  . . .  4,058 

53  Lee   19,116 

54  Loudoun  ....16,077 

55  Louisa    7,896 

56  Lunenburg  ...  5,133 

57  Madison   ....  6,695 

58  Mathews   ....  5,844 

59  Mecklenburg.  10,353 

60  Middlesex  ...  2,684 

61  Montgomery  12,927 


Negro.  Counties.                 White.  Negro. 

261  62  Nansemond  ..10,115  12,962 

6,053  63  Nelson  10,403  5,672 

6,205  64  New  Kent...  1,660  3,204 

o  65  Norfolk 19,113  31,600 

9,500  66  Northampton  6,141  7,627 

8,580  67  North'mb'rl'd  6,880  4,166 

6,125  68  Nottoway  . . .  4,966  7,400 

5,003  69  Orange  7,050  5,519 

8,298  70  Page  12,354  i,44O 

1,075  71  Patrick  13,780  1,624 

4,011  72  Pittsylvania  .25,605  21,289 

5,947  73  Powhatan  ...  2,343  4,48i 

753  74  Prince  Edw'd  5,276  9,769 

799  75  Prince  G'rge.  2,886  4,858 

6,608  76  Princess  An'e  1,505  5,687 

5,558  77  Prince  Will'm  8,240  2,871 

959  78  Pulaski  13,372  3,237 

i,43i  79  Rappahann'k  6,121  2,722 

6,356  80  Richmond  ...  4,159  2,942 

19,275  81  Roanoke n,99i  3,845 

7,898  82  Rockbridge   .17,715  4,084 

12,816  83  Rockingham  30,893  2,632 

8,383      84  Russell  17,267  764 

378  85  Scott 22,067  627 

6,268  86  Shenandoah  .19,604  649 

2,342  87  Smyth  15,900  1,170 

5,259  88  Southampton.  9,165  13,683 

3,322  89  Spottsylvania.  5,355  3,886 

4,962  90  Stafford 6,489  1,608 

4,891  91  Surry  3,286  5,183 

740  92  Sussex  4,121  7,961 

5,868  93  Tazwell  19,802  3,582 

8,621  94  Warren  7,372  1,463 

6,572  95  Warwick  ....  1,159  3,729 

3,521  96  Washington.. 26,433  2,555 

2,395  97  Westmorel'nd  4,381  4,861 

16,198  98  Wise  17,688  1,965 

4,536  99  Wythe  17,653  2,783 

2,925  100  York  3,396  4,081 


716 


PROGRESS   OF    A   RACE. 


8,059 

.i8,7i7 

7,079 


WEST  VIRGINIA. 
Counties.  White.    * 

1  Barbour 12,390 

2  Berkeley 

3  Boone  

4  Braxton  — 

5  Brooke   

6  Cabell  

7  Calhoun  10,174 

8  Clay   8,230 

9  Doddridge  ..13,663 

10  Fayette   26,130 

11  Gilmer   11,726 

12  Grant    7,023 

13  Greenbrier  . .  18,854 

14  Hampshire  ..11,344 

15  Hancock    ....  6,646 

16  Hardy   7,992 

17  Harrison  — 26,434 

18  Jackson 22,872 

19  Jefferson n,994 

20  Kanawha 50,711 

21  Lewis   16,792 

22  Lincoln 15,371 

23  Logan  6,894 

24  McDowell   ..12,778 

25  Marion    31,942 

26  Marshall 

27  Mason  . 


.25,941 
.22,604 


Counties.  White. 

Negro.  28  Mercer    20,119 

808  29  Mineral    22,218 

1,765  30  Mingo  11,050 

135  31  Monongalia  .18,747 

187  32  Ivlonroe   12,300 

139  33  Morgan   7,O74 

i,537  34  Nicholas    ....11,364 

83  35  Ohio  46,765 

18  36  Pendleton    ...  9,044 

25  37  Pleasants    ...  9,335 

5,857  38  Pocahontas    .  7,947 

36  39  Preston  22,565 

252  40  Putnam  . 

1,829  41  Raleigh   . 

461  42  Randolph          , ,    _ 

46  43  Ritchie  18,875 

457  44  Roane    19,820 

1,252  45  Summers    ...15,749 

115  46  Taylor 14,553 

3,941  47  Tucker  13,077 

3,983  48  Tyler   18,153 

178  49  Upshur   14,473 

63  50  Wayne   23,298 

61  51  Webster 8,850 

5,969  52  Wetzel   22,440 

482  53  Wirt   10,220 

499  54  Wood  -35,528 

537  55  Wyoming  . . .  8,286 


.16,951 
.12,076 

17,149 


Negro. 
2,907 
665 
3IQ 
299 
830 

220 
19 

1,251 
123 

6 

625 
162 
378 
360 

519 
26 
33 

c,"5 

423 

463 

94 

221 

321 
12 

439 
64 

92* 

94 


POPULATION  FOR  CITIES  HAVING  50,000  INHAB. 
ITANTS  OR  MORE— 1900. 

NOTE. — The  United  States  census  tables  place  under  the 
heading,  "COLORED,"  all  "persons  of  Negro  descent,  Chinese, 
Japanese,  and  Indians."  The  first  column  following  gives  the 
number  of  all  persons  of  every  race,  color,  and  nationality  living 
in  the  cities  named ;  the  second  column,  all  white  people  of  every 
nationality ;  the  third  column,  persons  of  Negro  descent  only. 
This  will  account  for  the  fact  that  the  sum  of  the  numbers  in  the 
second  and  third  columns  does  not  equal  the  number  in  the  first 
column.  ^  The  difference  in  each  case  shows  the  number  of 
Chinese,  Japanese,  and  Indians; 


StAtlStlCS   OF   THE   RACE. 


Ill 


Cities.  Total.  White.  Negro. 

1  Albany,  N.  Y 94,151  92,962  1,178 

2  Allegheny,  Penn 129,896  126,552  3, 3*5 

3  Atlanta,  Ga 89,872  53,907  35,912 

4  Baltimore,  Md 508,957  429,218  79,258 

5  Boston,  Mass 560,892  548,083  11,591 

6  Bridgeport,  Conn 70,996  69,775  1,149 

7  Brooklyn,  N.  Y 1,166,582  1,146,909  18,367 

8  Buffalo,  N.  Y 352,387  350,586  1,698 

9  Cambridge,  Mass 91,886  87,879  3,888 

10  Camden,  N.  J 75,935  70,280  5,576 

11  Charleston,  S.  C 55,807  24,238  31,522 

12  Chicago,  111 1,698,575  1,667,140  30,150 

13  Cincinnati,  Ohio 325,902  311,404  14,482 

14  Cleveland,  Ohio 381,768  375,664  5,988 

15  Columbus,  Ohio 125,560  H7.335  8,201 

16  Dayton,  Ohio 85,333  81,923  3,387 

17  Denver,  Colo 133,859  129,609  3,923 

18  Detroit,  Mich 285,704  281,575  4,111 

19  Des  Moines,  Iowa 62,139  60,460  1,675 

20  Duluth,  Minn 52,969  52,547  357 

21  Erie,  Penn 52,733  52,483  244 

22  Elizabeth,  N.  J 52,130  50,963  i,  139 

23  Evansville,  Ind 59,007  51,486  7,518 

24  Fall  River,  Mass 104,863  104,458  324 

25  Grand  Rapids,  Mich 87,565  86,952  604 

26  Harrisburg,  Penn 50, 167  46,044  4, 107 

27  Hoboken,  N.  J 59,364  59,200  101 

28  Hartford,  Conn 79,850  77,837  1,887 

29  Indianapolis,  Ind 169,164  153,201  15,931 

30  Jersey  City,  N.  J 206,433  202,510  3,704 

31  Kansas  City,  Kan 51,418  44,903  6,507 

32  Kansas  City,  Mo 163,752  146,090  17,567 

33  Lawrence,  Mass 62,559  62,314  87 

34  Los  Angeles,  Cal 102,479  98,082  2,131 

35  Louisville,   Ky 204,731  165,590  39,139 

36  Lowell,  Mass 94,969  94,774  136 

37  Lynn,  Mass 68,513  67,664  784 

38  Manchester,  N.  H 56,987  56,926  28 

39  Memphis,  Tenn 102,320  52,380  49,910 

40  Milwaukee,  Wis 285,315  284,432  862 


718 


PROGRESS   OF    A    RACE. 


Cities.                                  Total.  White.  Negro. 

41  Minneapolis,  Minn 202,718  201,213  1,548 

42  Nashville,  Tenn 80, 865  50, 795  30.044 

43  Newark,  N.  J 246,070  239,108  6,744 

44  New  Bedford,  Mass 62,442  60,633  1,685 

45  New  Haven,  Conn 108,027  105,034  2,887 

46  New  Orleans,  La 287,104  208,946  77,714 

47  New  York,*  N.  Y 3, 437, 202  3*369,898  60,666 

48  Oakland,  Cal 66,960  64, 788  1,026 

49  Omaha,  Neb 102,555  99,009  3,443 

50  Paterson,  N.  J 105,171  103,859  1,182 

51  Peoria,   111 56,100  54,684  1,402 

52  Philadelphia,  Penn 1,293,697  1,229,673  62,613 

53  Pittsburg,  Penn 321,616  304,421  17,040 

54  Portland,  Me 50,145  49,822  291 

55  Portland,  Ore 90,426  80,614  775 

56  Providence,  R.  1 175,597  171, 5o8  4,817 

57  Reading,  Penn 79.9&I  78,4*4  534 

58  Richmond,  Va 85,050  52,798  32,230 

59  Rochester,  N.  Y 162,608  161,994  601 

60  St.  Joseph,  Mo 102,979  96,712  6,260 

61  St.  Louis,  Mo 575,238  545,385  35a5i6 

62  St.  Paul,  Minn 163,065  160,764  2,263 

63  San  Antonio,  Tex 53,342  45,722  7.532 

64  San  Francisco,  Cal 342,782  325,379  1,054 

65  Salt  Lake  City,  Utah 53,532  53.017  278 

66  Savannah,  Ga 54,244  26,109  28,090 

67  Scranton,  Penn 102,026  101,487  521 

68  Seattle,  Wash 80,865  76,815  406 

69  Somerville,  Mass 61,643  61,435  140 

70  Springfield,  Mass 62,057  60,986  1,021 

71  Syracuse,  N.  Y 108,374  107,309  1,034 

72  Toledo,  Ohio 131,822  129,478  1,710 

73  Trenton,  N.  J 73.3O7  7I.M9  2,096 

74  Troy,  N.  Y 60,651  60,227  400 

75  Utica,  N.  Y 57.383  56,137  244 

76  Washington,  D.  C 278,718  191,532  86,702 

77  Wilkesbarre,  Penn. 51,721  51,036  680 

78  Wilmington,  Del 76,508  66,738  9,736 

79  Worcester,  Mass 118,421  117,206  i, 104 

*This  includes  Greater  New  York,  composed  of  the  boroughs  of  (a) 
Bronx,  (b)  Brooklyn,  (c)  Manhattan,  and  (d)  Queen  and  Richmond. 


COLORED  MEMBERS  OF  CONGRESS. 


SENATORS. 


NAME.  Elected.  Service.  State. 

Bruce,  B.  K  .............  1875-81  6  years  Mississippi 

Revells,  Hiram  ..........  Feb.  23,  1870,  to  Mch.  3,  1871   Mississippi 


REPRESENTATIVES. 


NAME. 

Cain,  Rich.  H 

Cheatham,  H.  P.. 
De  Large,  Robt.  C 
Elliott,  Robt.  B.. 
Haalson,  Jerry... 
Hyman,  John  —  . 
Langston,  John  M. 

Long,  Jeff 

Lynch,  John  R. .. 
Miller,  Thos.  H.. 
Murray,  Geo.  W. 
Nash,  Chas.  E. . . . 
O'Hara,  Jas.  E  . . . 
Rainey,  Jos.  H... 

Ransier,  A  J 

Rapier,  Jas.  T.... 

Smalls,  Robt 

Turner,  Benj.  S.. 
Wall,  JosiahT..., 
White,  Geo.  H.... 


Cong. 


Elected. 
.43d  and  45th 
.52d  and  53d 
.42d 
.42d 
.44th 
.44th 
51st 
.41st 

.43d,  44th  and  47th  " 
.51st  « 

.53d  and  54th 
,44th 

.48th  and  49th 
.44th  et  seq 
.43d 
.43d 

.44th,  45th  and  47th" 
.42d 

.42d,  43d  and  44th     " 
55th 


Length  of 
Service. 

State. 

4  years 

S.  Carolina 

4      « 

N.  Carolina 

2      «« 

S.  Carolina 

2      " 

S.  Carolina 

2     " 

Alabama 

2      " 

N.  Carolina 

2     " 

Virginia 

2      «' 

Georgia 

6      " 

Mississippi 

2      •• 

S.  Carolina 

4     " 

S.  Carolina 

2      " 

Louisiana 

4      " 

N.  Carolina 

10     «' 

S.  Carolina 

2     " 

S.  Carolina 

2      " 

Alabama 

6      •« 

S.  Carolina 

2      " 

Alabama 

6     " 

Florida 

4      " 

N.  Carolina 

NUMBER  OF  NEGROES  APPOINTED  AND  EMPLOYED 

UNDER  THE  McKINLEY  ADMINISTRATION. 
In  1901  the  Hon.  Judson  W.  Lyons  and  a  few  other  colored  men 
undertook  to  obtain  exact  information  on  appointments,  and  their 
inquiry  was  so  thorough  that  the  results  are  approximately 
accurate.  They  show  that  President  McKinley  has  appointed 
Negroes  to  the  following  offices  that  are  confirmed  by  the  senate 
and  others  of  prominence,  not  including  fourth-class  postoffices: 

Collectors  of  customs 9 

Naval  officers 2 

Ministers  plenipotentiary 3 

Secretary  of  legation I 

Commissioner  Paris  exposition I 

Registrar  and  receiver  of  public  lands 5 


720  PROGRESS   OF    A    RACE. 

Consuls 8 

Registrar  of  the  treasury I 

Stamp  agent i 

Presidential  postmasters 17 

Collectors  of  internal  revenue 5 

Paymasters  in  the  army 2 

Army  chaplains 3 

Army  surgeons 5 

Pension  examiner I 

Surveyor-general i 

Recorders  of  deeds 2 

The  officials  of  highest  rank  and  salary,  of  Negro  birth,  are 
W.  F.  Powell,  minister  to  Haiti  ($5,000);  O.  L.  W.  Smith,  minister 
to  Liberia  ($4,000);  J.  W.  Lyons,  registrar  of  the  treasury  ($4,000); 
H.  P.  Cheatham,  recorder  of  deeds  ($4,000).  The  name  of  J.  W. 
Lyons  appears  upon  every  piece  of  paper  money  issued  by  the 
government. 

The  following  table  shows  the  number  of  Negroes  employed 
under  the  McKinley  administration  and  the  salaries  drawn 
by  them  in  the  various  executive  departments: 

Number.          Salaries. 

State  department 12     $     27,000 

War  department  (estimated) 5,000       1,250,000 

Navy  department 40  20,000 

Treasury  department  (estimated) 500         250,000 

Interior  department 28  19,400 

Postoffice  department 50  31,530 

Agricultural  department 12  25,000 

General  land  office 33  39r344 

Pension  office , 99  07,740 

Indian  office 6  3,700 

Patent  office 37  31,120 

Geological  survey 15  7,240 

Censusoffice 844          118,720 

Government  printing  office 213          167,737 

Recorder  of  aeeds 22  14,060 

District  of  Columbia  offices 75  41,200 

It  is  impossible  to  ascertain  how  many  postal  railway  mail  clerks, 
letter  carriers,  deputy  collectors,  storekeepers,  gaugers  and  other 
employes  of  the  various  branches  of  the  government  throughout 
the  country  are  of  Negro  birth.  It  is  also  impossible  to  ascertain 
the  exact  number  employed  under  the  war  department  in  various 
capacities,  but  they  are  estimated  at  5,000.  This  does  not  include 
twenty-four  captains,  twenty-four  first  lieutenants,  twenty-four 
second  lieutentants  and  4,871  privates  in  the  army  in  the  Philip- 
pines or  several  hundred  Negroes  who  have  enlisted  in  the  navy 
and  are  serving  on  ships  of  war. 


INDEX. 


PAGE. 

Academic  instruction 342 

Accumulation  of  wealth. . .  301 

Adams,  J.  N 242 

Admissions,    some     frank, 
concerning    women's 

clubs 229 

Advancement 274 

Africa,  Negro    for,  22;   its 

future 31 

African  Methodist  Episco- 
pal Church,  459;  cut  of, 

at  Atlanta,  Ga 461,  466 

African  Methodist  Episco- 
pal Schools,  list  of 693 

African    Union    Methodist 

Protestant  Church 468 

African  Methodist  Episco- 
pal Zion  Schools,  list  of..  693 
Afro-American     Presbyte- 
rian   452 

Alcohol,  evils  of,  as  a  bev- 
erage  184,  31$ 

Alexander,    Rev.    W.   G., 

sketch  of,  545;  cut  of 546 

Allen,  D.  B 248 

Allen  University,  cut  of . . .  256 

American  Baptist 452 

American    Baptist    Home 
Missionary  Society,  380, 

383,  442,  443 474 

American  Missionary  Asso- 
ciation.    380 

Anglo-Saxons 308 

Anti-Slavery,  agitation,  73; 
societies,  76;   party,  77; 
women,  81;  orators... 82,    85 
Anthony,  Mrs.  Libbie  C. . .  209 

Area  of  the  World .... 673 

Arkansas  Baptist  College, 

cut  of 436 

Armstrong,  Gen.  S.  C.,  quo- 
tations from 128,  515 

Arnett,    Bishop    B.    W., 

sketch  of 540 

Association,  the  National. .  210 


PAGfi. 

Atkinson,  Gov.,  quotations 

from 324 

Atlanta  Baptist  Seminary. .  409 

Atlanta  Conference 417 

Atlanta  Constitution 336 

Atlanta  Exposition 295 

Atlanta  University,  233;  cut 

of,  412;  graduates  of....  413 
Attucks,   Crispus,  cut,  60; 
first   martyr  for  Ameri- 
can Liberty 62-3,  234 

Atwood,  W.  C 299 

Authors,  colored,  list  of, 
619-624;  their  literary 
work 601 

Bailey,  Mrs.  Ida 207 

Balay,  Rev.  W.  D.,  sketch 

of 547 

Baldwin,  Louis  F 237,  238 

Baldwin,  Miss  Maria.... ". .  209 

Baltimore,  T.  D , .  298 

Bandera,  Quintin 132 

Banks,  Charles 250,  251 

Banks,  Dr.  J.  B.,  cut  of,  597; 

sketch  of 597 

Banneker,  Benjamin 14 

Baptist  Church,  regular, 
colored,  464;  at  Augusta, 

Ga.,  cut  of 465 

Baptist  College  of  Arkan- 
sas, 437;  cut  of 436 

Baptist  Missionary  Society,  383 

Baptist  Schools,  list  of 092 

Baptist  Seminary,  Atlanta, 
cut  of  class,  330;  cut  of 

building 408,  409 

Barnett,    Mrs.    Ida  Wells, 

sketch  of 6n 

Barrier,  Miss  Ella  D. .  .207,  209 

Bartlet,  Harris 251 

Bates,  Lewis 302 

Becraft,  Maria 201 

Berea  College 398-399 

Biddle,  Mrs.  Mary  D 444 


46  Progress. 


721 


INDEX. 


PAGE. 

Biddle  University,  444,  cut 

of 445 

Big  Bethel  Church,  cut  of,  461 

Billingslea 292 

Birney,  James  G 77 

"Black  Harry" 458 

Black,  John 298-299 

Black  laws  in  border  states    57 
Blair,  Henry  W.,  quotations 

from 339 

Blood,  of  one 13 

Bloodhounds,  encounter 

with,  cut 123 

Blyden,  Dr.,  quotation  from     14 
Blyden,  Rev.  E.  W.,  sketch 

of..... 536 

Booker,  Rev.  J.  A.,  sketch  of  548 

Booz,  E.  P 249 

Border  states,  black  laws  in    57 
Boston,     Massacre,   61; 

meeting  at 237 

Bowen,  Dr.  J.  W.  E.,  quo- 
tations from,  148,  151, 
191, 463; cut  of,  590;  sketch 

of 590 

Boyd,  Dr.  R.  F.,  cut  of,  586; 

sketch  of 586 

Boyd,  R.  H 251 

Bradley,  I.  F.,  sketch  of. ...  578 

Briscoe,  Mrs 263 

Brooks,  Blanche  V.  H 201 

Brown,  Dr.  A.  M 243 

Brown,  David 281 

Brown,   Henry    Box,  his 

escape ..98-101 

Brown,  John 77,    87 

Brown,}.  W 264 

Brown,  T.  A 250 

Bruce,  B.  K.,  sketch  of 619 

Bruce,  Roscoe  C 450 

Bryce,  Prof.,  quotation  from  367 
Bulkley.Prof.  W.  L.,  sketch 

of 529 

Burwell,  Dr.  L.  L 243 

Business   education 270 

Business  world 187 

Butler,    Dr.,  quotations 

from 302-303 

Butler,  Gen.,  quotations 
from 116 


Butler,  Dr.  H.R.,  quotations 

from 277-278 

Butt.F.L 264 

Callioux,  Capt 121 

Galloway,  G.  F 260 

Galloway,  Mrs.   F 262 

Canterbury  Seminary 200 

Carleton,  Will  M 649 

Carnes,  Rev.  J.  R.,  sketch  of  550 
Carney,    Sergt.  Wm.  H.,  at 

Fort  Wagner 1 18-120 

Carroll;  Dr.,  quotation  from  667 
Carter,  Rev.  E.  R.,  sketch 

of,  548;  cut  of 549 

Carver,  Prof.  Geo.  W., 
sketch  of,  599;  cut  of. ...  509 

Casneau,  Mrs.  A.  A 243 

Catholic  Women's  League,  224 

Caucasians 17 

Central  Tennessee  College,  425 

Chaplain,  W.  L 90 

Charitable   institutions 313 

Chicago,  meeting  at 249 

Chicago  Woman's  Club. . .  217 

Christian  Index 452 

Christian  Record. 452 

Christian  schools,  list  of . . .  693 

Churches,  colored 301 

Church  organizations,  col- 
ored   459 

Cities,  Negroes  living  in  310-31 1 
Clark,  Rev.  G.  V.,  sketch  of,  553 
Clark  University,  409;  cut 
of,  410;  Girls'   Industrial 

School,  cut  of 322 

Clay,  Cassius  M 77 

Clubs,  colored  women's,  rec- 
ognition of,  228;  names 
of,  Ellen  Watkins  Har- 
per, 205;  Loyal  Union, 
205;  Ida  B.  Wells,  205; 
Phyllis  Wheatley,  205, 206; 
Sojourner  Truth,  205;  Wo- 
man's Era,  205,  206;  Wo- 
man's League 205-206 

Club,  list  of  Negro  women 

of  National  Association..  210 
Club     movement,    among 
Negro    women,   197,  203; 


INDEX. 


723 


PAGE. 

work,  204,  230;  first  or- 
ganization, 205;  develop- 
ment of 208 

Coffin,  F.  B.,  sketch  of 595 

Coffin,  Levi go 

Coles,  Julia  E 264 

Color  line 227 

Color,  theory  of,  16;  grada- 
tions of 17 

Colored  American 237,  452 

Colored  Christian  ministry,  463 
Colored  M.  E.  Church,  459, 469 
Colored  press  discussed, 

452-454 

Colored  woman, her  friends, 

225;  attitude  of 226 

Conference,  Women's 209 

"Conflict  in  a  barn,"  cut. . .     94 

Congregationalists 38 1 

Congregational  Church,  At- 
lanta, Ga.,  cut  of 470 

Congregational   Methodist, 

colored 471 

Congregational  Schools,  list 

of 694 

Conklin,  Seth 104 

Contents 7 

Cook,  Miss  Helen 207-209 

Cooper,  Mrs.  Anna  G..  .207-209 
Cooper,  E.  £.,237,238,  250; 

sketch  of,  61 1 ;  cut  of 612 

Coppin,  Mrs.  Fannie  Jack- 
son  201 

Cotton  mills 268 

Cotton  picking,  cut  of 269 

Cotton   States  Exposition, 

204-295 

Councill,  W.  H 283-284 

Craft,  William   and   Ellen,  103 

Crandall,  Prudence 200, 607 

Crawford,  A.  F ...  249 

Creekmur,  C.  R 263 

Crime,  180,  321;  of  mothers,  307 

Criminals 188 

Criminality 685 

Crisman,  Mrs.  Eliza 411 

Crogman,  W.  H.,  cut,  fron- 
tispiece    505 

Cross-roads    grocery 179 

Crummell,    Rev.    Alexan- 


PAGE. 

der,  quotations  from,  385; 

sketch  of . .  534 

Cumberland  Presbyterian, 

colored 472 

Cunningham,  D.  J 249 

Curtis,  T.  A.,  sketch  of 598 

Curse,  theory  of,  14;  basis 

for  argument 15 

Cush 16 

"Danville  Chariot,"  poem.,  635 
"Dat   Thanksgivin'     Tur- 
key," poem 652 

Davis,  S.  L 251 

Davis,  Pres.  A.  G.,  quota- 
tion from 298 

Davis,  Rev.  Jas.  A.,  sketch 

of 547 

Day,  Mrs.  Wm 262 

Day,  Rev.  Wm.  H.,  sketch 

of 553 

Deaths 306 

Dennison,  F.  A.,  sketch  of.  573 
Denominations,  Negro  re- 
ligious,   462;     amounts 

spent  by  each 463 

Deportation  of  Negroes. .  .     22 

Dickerson,  Mrs 209 

Dickey,  Rev.  G.  W 482 

Diseases 315 

Dispensaries 314 

Distribution  of  the  Negro 

race 683-685 

Douglass,  Frederick,  14; 
quotations  from,  147,  200, 
474,  644,  645;  sketch  of, 

485;  cut  of 486 

Drink  traffic 27 

DuBois,   Prof.   W.   E.    B., 

204,  233;  sketch  of 528 

Dumas,  Alexander 14 

Dunbar,  Paul  Laurence, 
sketch  of,  60 1 ;  cut  of,6or; 

poems  from. 651,654 

Duncan,  Bishop,  quotation 

from 671 

Dungee,  Dr.  A.  C 242 

"Dying  Bondman,  The," 
poem 606 


724 


INDEX 


Early,  Mrs.  S.  W 

Early  School , 379 

Eaton,  Gen.  John 379 

Economic  conditions 367 

Education,  its  object,  323; 
improvements  in,  324; 
power  of,  339;  secondary 
and  higher,  349;  past  and 

present 655 

Educators... 164 

Educational  improvements, 

323;  tables 690-691 

Educational       institutions, 

number  of 340 

Edwards,     Dr.,    quotation 

from 47 

Edwards,  Rev.  J.  E.,  quota- 
tion from 258 

Elbert,  Dr.  E.  E 243 

Emancipation  of  slaves.. .     59 

Emery,  W.  O 246 

Episcopal  schools,  list  of. .  693 
"Equal  to  the  emergency," 

Qut 643 

Era  Club 207, 208,  209 

"Ethiopia,"  poem 409 

Ethiopians 16 

Eustis,  quotation  from 69 

Evans,  Dr 311 

Ewing,  T.  G.,  sketch  of . . .  574 
Exposition,    cotton    states 
(1895)  294-295;  at  Nash- 
ville (1897) 295 

Fairbanks,  Calvin 89 

Fairchild,  E.  H 399 

Farms  and  homes 255, 681 

Fee,  Rev.  J.  G 398 

Fidelity  of  the  Negro 36 

Fields,  James  A 259 

Figurative  prayer 652 

Financial    growth   of    the 

Negro 297 

First  colored  regiment 120 

Fisk  University,  377;  cut 
of,  378;  alumni,  396;  jubi- 
lee singers,  cut  of 397 

Fitzbutler,  Dr.  Sarah'  H., 
sketch  of 506 


PAGE. 

Fitzbutler,    Dr.    Henry, 

sketch  of 594 

Fitzgerald,  JR.  W...: 241 

Five  great  institutions. . . .  372 

Forerunners  of  liberty 485 

Fortune,  T.  Thos.,  238,  248, 
250,  251;  quotations  from, 

363 368 

Fort  Wagner 118 

Fowlkes,  J.  P 249 

Frames,  Mrs.  John  R 207 

Freedmen's  aid  of   M.  E. 

Church 382, 409 

Freedmen's  Bureau 380-381 

Freedmen's  Savings  Bank,  451 

Free-Will  Baptist 381 

Friends'  schools,  list  of. ...  694 

Frost,  Prof.  W.  G 399 

Fugitive  slave  law 89 

"Funeral,  The,"  poem 647 

Furness,  Rev.  Wm.  H.,  cut 
of 321 

Gaines,  Bishop,  on   lynch- 
ing...    177 

Gammon,  Rev.  Elijah  H. .  4*t 
Gammon  Theological  Sem- 
inary, cut  of 386,  411 

Garnett,  Mrs.  Henry  H.. . .  201 

Garrett,  Thomas 90-91 

Garrison,  Wm.   Lloyd,  74, 

75,82,85,234,235,485...  488 
Gates,  Pres.,  quotation  from,  365 
Gilbert,  Prof.  John  Wesley,  519 
Girls'  Industrial  School.. . .  322 
Givens,  Miss  L.  V.,  sketch 

of 619 

Glenn,   Prof.,   quotations 

from 274,  276 

Gorden,  Nora  A 406 

Grady,  Henry  W.,  quota- 
tion from 336 

Graham,  W.  F 251 

Grandchildren     of    slaves, 

cut 56 

Grant,  Gen.  U.  S in 

Grant,  J.  W.,  sketch  of 575 

Graves,  J.  K 249 

Greeley,  Horace 273 

Greener,  R.  T.,  sketch  of. .  618 


INDEX. 


725 


Greenwood,    Prof.   J.    M., 

quotation  from  ..........  166 

Gnmke,  Mrs.  C.  ¥.,201,202, 

207;  sketch  of  ...........  617 

Grknke,  Rev.  F.  J.,  sketch 

of  ......................  543 

Gunby,  Judge,  quotations 

from  ............  .....24,  332 

Hadley,  Dr.  W.  A.,  sketch 

"Hai'l!  Ha'ii  !*  Hail*!"'  poem.  '.  640 
Hale  Infirmary.  .  ..........  480 

Hall,  Walter?  ............  251 

Ham  ...................  15,    16 

Hamilton  R.  H  ............  262 

Hamm,  J.  R  ..............  237 

Hancock,  R.  M  ...........  298 

Hampton,  Clark,  sketch  of,  615 
Hampton  Institute,  355,  391, 
394.5H,  633;  cut  of.....  390 

Hampton    Students,   testi- 
monials from  .......  259-264 

Hapgood,  Bishop  .........  407 

Harper,  Mrs.  Frances  E.  L. 
W.,3oi;  cut  of,  21  ;  sketch 
of,  498;  poems  from,  500- 
504;  quotations  from.  .  606-607 
Harris,   Prof.,  quotation 
from  ....................  659 

Harris,  G.  C.,  237,  238,  243,  250 
Harris,  Bishop  C.  R.,  sketch 


of 


Hart,  Thomas  N  ____  .  .....  2 

Hartzell,  Dr  ..............  3 

Haven,  Bishop  Gilbert  ----  411 

Hayden,  Mrs.  D.  1  .........  201 

Haygood,  Dr.  A.  G.,  quota- 
tions from,  195,  323,  325, 
334  .....................  661 

Heathen  Africa  ...........  173 

Heathenism  ..............   152 

Hebrew  ...................     15 

Hemming,    Miss    Anita, 
sketch  of  ...............  642 

Henry,W.P  ..............  260 

Heredity  and  Alcohol  .....  315 

Herodotus  ................     16 

Heroism  of  the  Negro  .....     69 

Hillyer,  A.  F  ..............  239 


Holmes,  Prof.  W.  £.,405; 

cut  of,  518;  sketch  0^518-519 
Holsley,  Bishop  L.  H.,  cut 

of,  532;  sketch  of 532 

Hood,  Bishop  J.  W.,  sketch 

of 543 

Homes 305 

Hope  of  the  South 264 

Hopkins,  Prof.  M.  A., 

sketch  of 619 

Hopkins,  Rev.  Dr.,  quota- 
tion from 71 

Hospitals 314 

Howard,  Mrs.  Imogene...  209 
Howard,  D.  T.,  his  home 

and  family 280 

Howard,  Clara 407 

Hudson,  R.  B 242 

Humane  Masters 153 

Hunter,  Gen.  David  and 

the  Negro  Soldiers. . .  108-109 
ffuntsvitfe  Herald 284 

Ignorance,  Evil  Effects  of.  317 
Illiteracy  of  Colored  Peo- 
ple, 347;  Disappearance 

of 349 

Income  of  Negroes 311-312 

Industries,  progress  of ....  255 
Industrial  College,  Georgia,  422 

Industrial  Education 351 

Industrial  Schools   of   the 


44  South,  350,  351;  for  girls,  322 
Ju  Industrial  Training,  350, 

351;  importance  of.. 353,  365 

Indianapolis  Freemen 452 

Ingenuity  of  Negro 27 

Infants,  mortality  of 

among 319-320 

Insurrection,  Negro 47 

Intemperance  a  cause  of 

mortality 314-3*5 

Introduction 4 

Ivy,  L.  S 261 

ackson,  C.  H 285 

ackson,  Deal 293 

ackson,  G.  B 238,  240,  250 

apheth 15 


726 


INf>EX. 


T      «•          •  T  T^  • 

JerferiSj    J.    P.,    quotation 

from 20 

effrey,  Maj 66 

effis,  Joe 293 

enkins,  S.  J.,  sketch  of....   580 

ohnson,  A.  M 251 

ohnson,  C.  K 237 

ohnstone,  David  L.,  sketch 

of 592 

Johnson,  E.  A.,  quotation 

from 192,230 

Johnson,  Gen.  Edw.,  cut  of,  127 
Johnson,  Prof.,  quotation 

from 18 

Johnson,  Rev.  Wm.,  quota- 
tion from 445-446 

ones,  Geo.  C 238 

ones,  Geo.  E 249-250 

ones,  T.W 238,  250 

_  ones,  Wm 97 

Jones,  Wiley, 281,  298 

Josephus 16 

Jubilee  Singers,  cut  of 397 

Kealing,  Prof.  H.  S.,  quota- 
tion from 663 

Kendrick,  Minnie  M. 221 

Kennedy,    Rev.    Paul    H., 

sketch  of 552 

Kidnapping 40 

King,  W.  E.,  sketch  of 619 

Knoxville  College 435 

Labor 353.357 

Laney,  Mrs.  Lucy, sketch  of  525 
Langston,  John  M.,  568;  cut 

of,  577;  sketch  of 577 

Laurens,  Col.,  letter  to  Gen. 

Washington 71 

Lawyers,  colored,  555;  list 

of . 567,  570 

League,  National  Negro 

Business,  233;  scope  of, 

238;  origin  of,  233 ;  second 

annual  meeting  of 249 

"Left  to  their  fate,"  a  cut . .  58 

Leftwick,  J  C 246 

Leland  University,  cut  of, 

348 428 

Lewey,  M.  M 237,  240,  250 


PAGE. 

Lewis,  Edmonia 616 

Lewis,  J.  H 237, 247 

Lewis,  Rev.  W.,  sketch  of,  617 

Liberia 28 

Lincoln,  President  A.,  quo- 
tation from,  42;  cut  of,  106, 117 
List  of  colored  authors,  619-624 
List,  Club  of  National  Asso- 
ciation of  Club  Women. .  210 
List  of  publications  (Negro) 

619-624 

List  of  wealthy  Negroes. . .  299 
Livingstone,  Dr.,  quotation 

from,  18;  his  tomb 36-37 

Livingstone  College ; .  434 

Logan,  Gen.  John  A.,  quota- 
tion from 161 

Love,  Dr.  A.  J 242 

Lovejoy,  E.  P 77 

Lovelace,  Henry 242 

Lowe,  Mrs.  Rebecca  D.,  2 19,  221 
Lowell,  James  Russell,  quo- 
tation from 32.7 

Lowry,    S.    R.,   silk-worm 

grower 281 

Lucas,  D.  W 237 

Lucas,  Rev.  W.  W.,  cut  of,  168 
Luckie,  Prof.  C.  W.,  sketch 

of 528 

Lullaby,  a  poem 649 

Lundy,     Benj.,     quotation  - 

from 74 

Lynching,    Bishop   Gaines 
on 177 

McCurdy,    Mrs.     M.    A.,  ; 

sketch  of : .  610 

McElwee,    Hon.    Samuel,  • 

sketch  of 564 

McKinley,  Jacob 301 

McKinley,  Pres.  Wm..  .250,288 
McKinney,  J.W.,  sketch,  of,  '617 
Maceo,  Gen.  Antonio. ......  "132 

Mail  rifling ....  "  85 

Manual  labor,  dignity  of.. .  265 
Martin  Luther  Graves  Hall, 

cut  of 

Martin,  Mrs 

Mason,  D.  M.,  sketch  of . . .  580 


INDEX. 


727 


PAGE. 

Mason,    Rev.    M.    C.    D., 
sketch  of  ...............  551 

Matthews,  R.  H  ...........  261 

Matthews,  Mrs.  Victoria  E.,  209 
Mayo,  Rev.  A.  D  ,  quota- 
tion  from  ...............  163 

Medical  Association,   The 
American,    585;  The 
Southern  Empire  State.  .  585 
Medical  colleges  .......  583,  584 

Medical  women  ...........  584 

Meharry  Medical  College, 
376,  426;  cut  of  ..........  427 


PAGE. 

Murphy,  W.  0  ............  251 

Murray,  Prof.  J.  L.,  cut  of,  344 
Myers,  Rev.  Cyrus,  sketch 

of,  618;  cut  of  ...........  618 

"My  Lord  Delivered 

Daniel,"  poem  ..........  639 


Napier,  Hon.  J.  C.,  250,  251; 
cut  of,  566;  sketch  of  .....  567 

Napoleon,    story    concern- 
ing  ..................  660-661 

Nashville  Exposition  ......  295 

National     Association     of 

Melodies,  plantation  ____  633-642  Colored  Women  ........  209 

Menef  ee,  Alfred,  sketch  of,  575  NationalConvent  ion, 

Methodist      Episcopal  influence  of  .............  215 

Schools,  list  of  ..........  692  National   Federation  of 

Middle  passage  ...........     41  Women's  Clubs  ......  216-219 

Military  Academy,  Negroes  National   Freedmen's    Aid 

in  ......................  130  Association  .............  380 

Millikens  Bend  ...........   120  National    Negro    Business 

Miller,  Mrs.  Dora  A  .......  251  League,  233;  organization 

Miner,  Mrs.  A.  V  ..........  282  of,  234;  first  meeting  of,  235 

Milwaukee,  biennial  meet-  Negro,    meaning   of  term, 

ing  at  ................  216,221  20;  Africa  for,  22;  points 

Ministers  .................  532  of  superiority,  25;  phys- 

Mitchell,  Rev.  E.G.,  quota-  ical     characteristics    of, 

tions  from  ...........  351,362  25;   traits  of,  25;   fidelity 

Mitchell,  John  ............  617  of,  26;  ingenuity  of,  27; 

Mitchell,  Charles  L  .......  237  in  other  conditions,    27; 

Mobs  riots  ................     85  insurrection,  47;  plot,  52; 

Montague,  Rev.  Dr  .......  237  in  the  Re  volutipnary 

Montgomery,  I.  T  ......  238,246  War,  65-72;  soldiers    of 

Moral  Improvements  ......   157  the    Revolution,    71; 

Morris  Brown  College,  432;  soldiers  in  the  Civil  War, 

cut  of  ...................   433  107-129;  number  enrolled; 

Morris,  Rev.  C.  E  .........  475  107;  opposition  to  enroll- 

Morris,  E.  H.,  sketch  of  .  .  .   572  ment,  107;  public  opinion 

Morris,  W.  R.,  sketch  of...   576  changes,  no;  soldiers  in 

Moody,    D.    L.,    quotation  Spanish-American   War, 

from  ...................  647  131-146;   his     patriotism, 

Mortality,  among  Negroes,  140;  his  loyalty,   166;  his 

305,  309;  causes  or,  312,  moral  and  social  advan- 

314-315;  by  poverty,  316;  tages,  147-196;  his  immor- 

among  ch  ildr  en,  317;  ahties,   158;    domination,. 

among    infants,  3197320;  159;  homes,  167;  his  recti- 

rate  of  ,  685  ;  of  five  cities,  tude,    191;  his  progress, 

........  .............  310-311  193;    his    physical    man- 

Mortgaged  property.  .  .290-300  hood,  195;  just  judgment 

Muk  aacl  forty  acres.  f  1  1  1  1  171  concerning,  196;  a§  a  social 


728 


INDEX. 


PAGE.  PAGE. 

factor,   199;  his  capacity,  Normal  schools  ...........  363 

203;  business  league  of,  Norman,  Rev.  M.  W.  D., 

233;  a  consumer,  257;  a  cut  of,  477;  sketch  of  .....  477 

laborer,  267;    he   should  Northern  Freedman's  Aid 

own  a   farm,    273;   as    a  Society  .................  380 

property-holder,    276;  Northern   women,    tribute 

finance  of    the,    207;    in  to....  ..................  370 

politics,  303  ;  mortality  o  f  ,  North  Star  ...............  485 

305;    birth-rate    of,    305; 

death-rate  of,  306;  in  pub-  Oberlin  College  ...........  201 

lie    schools,   306;     occu-  Occupations  ...........  306-307 

pations  of,  306;    earnings  "Oh,  Yes,"  poem  ..........  638 

of,  307;  diseases  of,  307;  One-room  cabin  ...........  364 

crimes  of  mothers,  307;  "On  Picket  Duty,"  cut  .....  115 

social  regeneration  of  ,309;  Opportunities,  equal  .......  329 

mortality    among,     309;  Orphanages  ...............  484 

incomes  of,  3  1  2  ;  grade  of  O  verton,  Anthony  .........  251 

society    among,    318;  Owen,  Mrs.  Mary  .........  263 

wages   of,    319;   living 

rooms  of,  319;  social  con-  Palmer,  R.  T  .............  247 

d  i  t  i  o  n  s   a  m  o  n  g,  320;  Palmerston,    Lord,   quota- 

should  have  equal  oppor-  tion  from  ...............     41 

tunities,  329;  prejudices  Pardee,  Rev.  Z.  T.,  sketch 

against,  333;  a  wealth  pro-  of  ...................  549-550 

ducer,  336;  illiteracy  of,  Parker,  Theodore  .........     77 

349,  686;  students,    350;  Parker  model  h*me,  cut  of.  271 

teachers,  350;   high  Patents  ...................  189 

schools,  350;  professors,  Patterson,  F.  D  ...........  25  1 

350;   progress,   362;    his  Payne,     Bishop     Daniel, 

religious  nature,  455;  sketch  of  ...............  550 

criminality  of,  685;  pau-  Peabody  fund  ..........  .  .  383 

perism  of  ,  686;  education  Petersburg,  258;  siege  of, 

of,  686;  physicians,  689;  .....................  122-124 

newspaper,  first    in    the  Pettiford,  W.  R.  ..  .237,  238,245 

South,  454.  Peyton,  Lewis  ............  260 

"Negro  farmers  cabin,    cut  Phelps,  Mrs.  Mary  R.,  cut 

N£VO  '  wombs'  ciub*    ^4^^;:;;;;;  « 

iiS3^:y.::::::::;  3 

Afim    ta'  'Si  362 


Nicotine  .  .  .  .   .  .........  ...  185 

Noah  ................  ...15,    19 

"Nobody  Knowsthe  Trouble 
I've  Seen,"  poem  ........  640 

Non-sectarian  schools,  list 
of  ...............  .  ......  695 


Pmckncy. 


quotations 


~ 

Pitts,  Mrs.  Emma  L  .......  251 

Plantation  melodies  .  .  .  .631-642 

Platt,  Miss  Ida,  sketch  of, 
573;  cut  ofMf,f,  .,,,,,,.  574 


INDEX. 


729 


Population  of  cities  having 
50,000  or  more  inhabit- 
ants   699 

Population    of   each  state 

and  territory 674 

Population  of  the  United 
States,  673;  for  each  cen- 
sus year 680 

Population  of  the  world. . .  673 
Population,  white  and  col- 
ored,   by    counties,    in 

Southern  states 701 

Poverty  a  cause  of  mortal- 
ity   316 

Port  Hudson 120, 121 

Powell,  Barto  F.,  289;  cut  of  290 
Powell,    W.  B.,   quotation 

from 341 

Presbyterian  schools,  list  of,  694 
Present  status  of  the  Negro,  658 

Prejudice 190 

Price,  Rev.  J.  C.,  on  tem- 
perance   178 

Price,  Pres.  J.  C.,  quota- 
tions from,  332,  335; 

sketch  of 522 

Proctor,  H.  H.,  and  his  asso- 
ciates, cut  of,  186;  sketch 

of,  541;  cut  of 541 

Professions 188 

Progress  in  industries 255 

Property     and      property 

owners 297 

Provident  Hospital 478 

Publications  (colored), 

names  of 619-624 

Public  schools,  colored 
children  in,  306;  system, 
340;  money  expended 
for.  347;  expense  of,  in 

the  South 439 

Pullen.J.W 241 

Quakers,  opposed  to  slav- 
ery   74 

Quarles,  Rev.  Frank 403 

Race.not  inferior,  14;  pride, 
257;  problem,  337;  distri- 


bution, 683-685;  statistics, 

673;  history  of 13 

Ramsey,  Mrs.  Geo.  E 263 

Rankin,  Rev.  John 90 

Rape 171-172 

Reconstruction 198 

Reed,  Wm.  L 237 

Religion  and  the  Negro,455, 656 
Remond,  C.  L.,  sketch  of. .  618 
Reports  of  Negro  schools. .  364 
Residence  of  Albert  Nash, 

cut  of, 275;  of  John  Schell, 

cut  of 279 

Richards,  Miss  Fannie....   201 

Richardson,  Virgil 237 

Richmond  Planet 452 

Ridley,  Mrs.  U.  A 209 

Roanoke  Institute,  cut  of. .  456 

Robinson,  Mrs.  D.  R 250 

Rockefeller,  J.  D 404 

Roger  Williams  University  443 
Roman  Catholic  Schools, 

list  of 694 

Roscoe  Conkling 450 

Rowen,  D 283 

Rucker,  Henry  A 285 

Ruffin,  Mrs.  Josephine  St. 

Pierre 208,  209,  216, 219 

Ruffin  incident,  the 218 

Ruffner,     Dr.,     quotation 

from 326 

Rust  University,  cut  of . . .  036 

Samuel  Huston  College. . .  438 
Sanders,  Rev.  D.  J.,  cut  of,  366 
Savannah,  deaths  in..  320-321 
Sawmill,  Tuskegee  Insti-  i- 

tute,  cut  of 266 

Saxton,  Gen.  Rufus,  re- 
cruited  first  Negro  regi- 
ment  112-113 

Scarborough,  Prof.  W.  S., 

cut  of,  511 :  sketch  of, ...  511 
Schell,  John  T.,  residence, 

cut  of 270-283 

Schools,  for  the  Negro, 
691;  tables  of,  692;  Bap- 
tist, 692 ;  Methodist  Epis- 
copal, 692 ;  United  Pres- 
byterian, 693;  Episcopal, 


730 


INDEX. 


PAGE. 

693 ;  African  Methodist 
Episcopal,  693 ;  Chris- 
tian, 693;  African  Meth- 
odist Episcopal  Zion, 
693 ;  Presbyterian,  694 ; 
Friends,  694 ;  Roman 
Catholic,  694;  Congrega- 
tional, 694 ;  non-sectar- 
ian   695-696 

School  population 346 

Schurz,     Carl,     quotations 

from 304 

Scott,  Emmet  J 250 

Scottron,  S.  R 25 1 

Scriptural     reminiscences, 

641;  cut 641 

Scruggs,  D.  B.  E.,  sketch 

of,  593;  cut  of 593 

Selma  University 442 

Separation  discussed - . .     23 

Settle,  J.T. , quotation  from, 
488;  cut  of,  560;  sketch 

of 561 

Shadd,  Mrs.  Mary  A 201 

Shaw,  Col. ,  commander  of 
first  Negro  regiment  ..117-118 

Shaw  University 383,    442 

Shem : 15 

Shepard,  J.  E 240 

Sherman,  Gen.  W.  T.,  quo- 

tation  from . .  ^ 26 

Short,  Madison 282 

Sierra  Leone 29 

Silkworm ; 281 

Sill,  William .....93,      96 

Skilled  mechanics 272 

Slater,  John  F 383-384 

Slater  fund 367,  383 

Slave-breeding  states k     55 

Slave-breeders »  150 

Slave-pen ; . »  377 

Slave  population . . .  -. 105 

Slave-trade,  cut,  32,  40;  in 
the  United  States,  45; 

abolished 45 

Slave-traders,  cut. 58 

Slavery,  33 ;  in  Africa,  33 ; 
sources  of,  34-35 ;  history 
of,  35;  in  Asia,  37;  in 
Europe,  37;  in  the  Jtfew 


PAGE. 

World,  38;  among  the 
Portuguese,  38;  Colum- 
bus and  slavery,  38 ;  in 
the  United  States,  39;  a 
curse,  43 ;  degrading,  44 ; 
its  victims  not  content, 
46 ;  its  restrictions,  48 ; 
in  'the  colonies,  48;  in 
Southern  colonies,  49 ;  in 
Maryland  and  Delaware, 
49;  in  Virginia,  50;  in 
New  York,  51;  never  in 
Rhode  Island,  52;  in 
New  Jersey,  53 ;  in  South 
Carolina,  53;  in  North 
Carolina,  54;  in  New 
Hampshire,  54;  in 
Massachusetts,  54 ;  in 
Pennsylvania,  55;  not 
univ ersally  count e- 
nanced,  55;  defended, 

154 ;  effects  of 369 

Smith,  Amanda,  quotation 
from,  101-102 ;  cut  of,  483 ; 
Industrial  OrphanHom«, 

484;  sketch  of 617 

Smith,  Mrs.  A.  M 238,  247 

Smith,  B.  S.,  sketch  of 579 

Smith,  Gen.,  on  Peters- 
burg   124-125 

Smith,  Goldwin,  quotation 

from 53 

Smith,  H.  D 282 

Smith,  P.  J 237,  250 

Smith,  Robert  Lloyd 439 

Smith,  H.  CM  sketch  of . . .  616 

Smithe,  Mrs.  J.   H 207 

Smiley,  J.  H 251 

Smiley,  C.  H 248 

Smoking 185 

Social  regeneration  of  the 

Negro 309 

Society  of  Friends 380 

Sociological  conditions ....  320 

Southern  clubs 224 

Southland  College 431 

Spanish- American     War, 

Negro  soldiers  in 135-144 

Spelman  Seminary, 


INDEX. 


731 


PAGE. 

rmrses,  cut  of,  356,  383; 

building,  cut  of 400,  401 

Spence,  Prof.  A.  K. ,  quota- 
tion from 373 

Statistics  of  the  race. .  .673,  etc. 

Star  of  Zion 452 

Stearns,  Geo.  L 234 

Stedman,  F.  G 249 

Sterrs,  Dr.  W.  E 251 

Stewart,  E.   D 263 

Stewart,  Gilehrist 282 

Stewart,  Dr.  F.  A.,  sketch 

of 594 

Still,  Charity 101 

Still,  William 298,  490 

"Stitch  in  Time.  A,"  cut..  650 

Stowe,  Mrs.  H.  B 83-84 

Stroke  for    Freedom,   A," 

cut 98 

Strong,  Dr.  Josiah,  quota- 
tion from 660 

Sumner,    Charles,    cut  of, 

81 ;  quotation  from 112 

Sunday  School    Union  of 
the  A.  M.  E.  Church,  472 ; 

cut  of  building 473 

"Swing  Low,  Sweet  Char- 
lot,"  poem 635 

"Talks  for  the  Times,  quo- 
tation from,  23,  47,  157, 

190,326,  350,658 664 

Tanner,  Bishop  B.  T.,  cut 

of,  538 ;  sketch  of 540 

Tanner,     Gov.,    quotation 

from 146 

Tanner,     Henry   O  .    298 ; 

sketch  of 613 

Tarry,  John  W 298 

Taylor,  R.   T 301-302 

Taylor,  W.  L 250 

Temperance  resolutions  of 

A.  M.  F.   C 182 

Temperance  increasing...  178 

"The  Tennesseeans" 426 

Terrill,  Mrs.  Mary  Church,  210 
"Thanksgiving   Dixie,"    a 

poem 651 

Thomas,   Gen.    L.,   quota- 
tion from 125 


Thomas,  J.  W.  E.,  sketch AG 

of 572 

Thomas,  T.  H 249 

Thomas,  Rev.  W.  H 237 

Thompkins,  Miss  Victoria,  207 

Thurston,  T.  W 251 

Tobacco 185 

Total  abstinence 179 

Tougaloo  University 443 

Trade  education 189 

Training  school  for  nurses,  480 
Trained  nurses — Spelman 

Seminary,  cut...   356 

Tower,  John  S 251 

Truth,  Sojourner 488 

Tupper,  Rev.  H.  M 442 

Turner,  Bishop  Henry  M., 
cut    of,    537;  sketch   of, 
536-539;  quotation  from,  170 
Tuskegee     Normal,     233, 

355,  318 418 

Tuskegee  Conference 446 

Tuskegee  sawmill,  cut  of . .  266 
Tynes,  J.  B 263 

"Uncle  Tom's  Cabin" .  .47,  84 
"Underground  Railroad," 

89,  92;  its  branches,  93; 

discussed 101,  302,  490 

Union  University,  cut  of 

lecture  hall 430 

United  Presbyterian 

School,  list  of 693 

"View  de  Land,"  a  poem.  637 
Voodoos 581 

Wagner,  Fort 118 

Walker,  Rev.  Chas.  T., 

sketch  of,  624;  cut  of....  625 
Walker,  Capt.  Jonathan ...  90 
Walker,  Rev.  Thos.  H.  B . .  479 

Walker,  T.  W 246 

Ware,  Pres.,  quotation 

from 325 

Warren,  Bishop  W.  H 411 

Watts  (Mrs.)  Orphanage. . .  481 
Washington,  Booker  T., 

quotation  from,   22,  168, 

204, 236, 265,  267, 352, 668 ; 


732 


INDEX. 


PAGE. 

cut  of,  232,  250;  autobio- 
•  graphical  sketch  of,  518; 
concerning  National  Bus- 
iness League! 233-238 

Washington,  Mrs.  B.  T. 209-210 
Washington,  Mrs.  Margaret 
Murray,      cut     of,      21; 

sketch  of 527 

Washington,  Gen.  George, 

letter  to  Col.  L 71 

Washington,  Louis,  sketch 

of 572 

Wealthy  Negroes,   list  of, 
297-298 ;  in  New  York. . .  299 

Wealth  producer,  A 336 

' '  We  are  Rising, ' '  a  poem . .     12 

Weaver,  D.  D 260 

Weaver,  Wm.  B 261 

Webb,    W.    B.,    quotation 

from 341 

Wendell,  T.  T.,  sketch  of. .  594 

Wesleyans 381 

West,  Rev.  W.  B.,  sketch 

of,  550;  cut  of 551 

Western    Freedman's  Aid 

Commission 380 

Wheatley,   Phyllis,  sketch 

of 607 

"When    de    Co'n    Pone's 

Hot,"  poem 653 

"When  the  Warm  Days  are 

Come,"  poem 651 

Wheeler,   L.   G.,  251;   cut 

of,  571 ;  sketch  of 571 

White    women,    acknowl- 
edgment to 202 

White  Women's  Club',  atti- 
tude of 216 

Whitman,  Rev.  A.  A.,  quo- 
tation from . . 270 

Wilberforce  University. , .  .383 


Williams,  Dr.  D.  H.,  sketch 

of 588 

Williams,   Fannie  Barrier, 

197-217 ;  sketch  of 610 

Williams,    Rev.   Emperor, 

sketch  of 554 

Williams,  Geo.,   quotation 

from 665 

Williams,  J.  A 247 

Williams,  Mrs.  Sylvanie. . .  207 
Williams,  S.  L.,  250;  sketch 

of,  573;  cut  of 573 

Wilson,  T.  A 250 

Wilson,  John  W 282 

Wilson,  Henry,  cut  of 86 

Wilson's  Wharf,  battle  of. .  122 

Wise  sayings 641-642 

Woman's    Era  Club,    207, 
209 ;     official    statement 

of 219-226 

Woman's  League,  the.  .207-208 

Woman  in  Temperance 183 

Wood,  Rev.  Norman,  quo- 
tation from 16 

Wood,  Rev.  G.  T 281,  298 

World's  Fair,  the 174 

Wormley,  James 239 

Worth  of  property 276 

Wright,   Pros.    R.   R.,  cut 

of,  423 ;  sketch  of 515 

Wright,  quotation  from...  187 
Wright,  President,   quota- 

tion  from 155 

Wycoff,  Ellen  F 652 

Yates,  Gov.  Richard 114 

Yates,  Mrs.  Silome 210 

Young,  Maj.  Chas 145 

Zion.  African  M.  E.  Church 
453 ~ 468 


/f  ^75- 


